Action group hopes Trygve Slagsvold Vedum keeps his promise.
The government negotiations between the Labor Party and the Center Party are coming to an end, and on Sunday it is expected that the Hurdal platform will be presented.
Someone who is extra excited is the action group Save Ullevål Hospital in Oslo, which expects the Center Party to gain a foothold to save the 150-year-old hospital.
– I have expectations that there will be some sentences about Ullevål hospital, and that they say something about the fact that it is at Ullevål that the large emergency hospital will be further developed, says head of Save Ullevål Hospital, Lene Haug, to Nettavisen.
Also read: Jan Bøhler (Sp) issues an ultimatum about Ullevål hospital
– Gets very disappointed
The background for the high expectations of the action group is that the Center Party went to the polls to save Ullevål hospital – and stop the major development plans at Rikshospitalet.
– The Center Party knows this case well, and has supported us in this case all the time. So I expect that there will be something to cheer about, says Haug, and adds:
– But I know nothing, so it’s very exciting.
– What do you think if the Center Party does not deliver in this case, where they have gone so high?
– I am absolutely sure that they are trying, and it is tough negotiations, but I will be very disappointed, says the campaign leader.
One of those who has gone out the most is the Center Party’s first candidate in Oslo in the Storting election, Jan Bøhler:
– A government in which Sp is involved must state that we will keep Ullevål hospital and expand it step by step, Bøhler said to Dagbladet in the election campaign.
While Center Party leader Trygve Slagsvold Vedum encouraged people to vote for the Center Party, to ensure that Ullevål hospital is not demolished.
– For us, Ullevål is a very important issue, he said.
Also read: Moxnes warns against giant hospitals: – People in the entire Oslo region are against
– Marveled at Ap
Haug is still in no doubt about who she will be most disappointed with, if they are not heard.
– The Labor Party has been opponents, but I do not understand that it is wise for them to stand on their position anymore, she says.
Opposition from the Labor Party has, however, been national, because locally the Oslo Labor Party turned in February this year, and now supports continued hospital operations at Ullevål – but they also want to expand the hospitals at Gaustad and Aker.
– If nothing comes in the platform, then we have to continue working to get something in the state budget – because we do not give up, Haug says.
– Not against new buildings
The hospital plans at Gaustad, where Rikshospitalet is today, have been studied since 2016. Haug does not hide what she thinks about the plans.
– The project is going very badly, and what we and the employees and shop stewards have warned against, it is hitting now. The fact that, among other things, there is no space, and that they are struggling to get the zoning plan approved because the plot is too small, she says.
– But at Ullevål there are many old buildings, and a lot has to be done there too?
– Yes, we are not against new buildings, but the Ullevål site is large in contrast to the site at Rikshospitalet. So there you can easily set up a new building behind the central building without disturbing the business there, she says, and points out:
– That is the main reason why we think it is better to keep that plot and build there.
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– It will be cheaper
She also believes that it will be cheaper to keep the hospital at Ullevål. The new hospital at Gaustad is estimated to cost about NOK 50 billion.
– There are more new buildings at Ullevål than at Rikshospitalet, which is now 20 years old. Among other things, an emergency building from 2014 and a new cancer center. With our solution, you can build less, so it will be cheaper, Haug claims.
It was in 2016 that the board of Health South-East decided to close Ullevål hospital and build a new, large regional hospital at Gaustad, as well as a local hospital at Aker.
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