Edvard Garder is the head of Confido Medical Center. He believes that the family doctor system is outdated. Currently, the family doctor list belongs to the family doctor or the local government. Garder thinks that this is no longer necessary.
Garder recommends the Finnish model. There, all doctors must work as general practitioners for a few years. This helps young doctors better understand the work. It also helps hospitals, as they have more staff.
There are problems in Estonian healthcare. People don't always get to see a doctor quickly. The reasons are the lack of doctors and poor organization. There are also financial problems. The Health Insurance Fund lacks money every year.
Garder doesn't believe that the situation will improve. He thinks that the money problem will not be solved. Inflation increases costs. Many new obligations add expenses. For example, patient insurance or ambulance funding.
What to do? Garder offers some solutions. One option is to raise taxes. Another option is to increase people's participation. A third option is to grow private health insurance. But these are all difficult decisions.
Garder thinks that the state should use private medicine more. He believes that private institutions are more flexible. They allow faster appointments, even on weekends. If the patient could choose where to go, competition would arise. This would help improve the quality of services.
Estonian hospitals are, in Garder's opinion, good. But he doesn't believe in large hospitals. In his view, hospitals should be smaller and more flexible. This would make it easier to adapt them according to need.
Garder also talks about AI. He believes that artificial intelligence will help doctors. It can speed up diagnostics and reduce workload. But Estonia needs to be bolder in using AI. Otherwise, we will fall behind other countries.