The diploma thesis covers the impact of COVID-19 on health policies of Slovenia and Sweden. The theoretical part of the thesis contains a conceptual-theoretical section in which the following concepts are defined: healthcare system, health care and health policy. The historical method examines the development of healthcare systems of both countries through history. This portion is followed by a comparative analysis of the healthcare systems of both countries as well as their advantages and disadvantages. The comparison of statistical data evaluates the operations of both countries' healthcare systems during the pandemic. In addition, the relationship between profession vs politics during times of crisis management involving the pandemic, is also portrayed in this thesis.
The research took place from December 2020 to December 2021. The research portion was created and based off of collected data from primary and secondary sources, which are used to analyze articles, papers and other material related to the topic studied.
We found that countries differ in many geographical, social, political and economic factors, making them difficult to fully compare. According to our findings, the most pressing problem in both Slovenia and Sweden is inadequate planning of human resources in health care. According to the latest available OECD and Eurostat data, there are 3.2 doctors per a population of 1,000 people in Slovenia. In Sweden the number of doctors rises to 4.3 per 1,000 people, and in the EU the average is 3.8 doctors per 1,000 people. The limited number of doctors, not the lack of financial resources, is the main reason for long waiting times in Slovenia. These waiting times increased even more during the pandemic. None of the countries stand out in terms of key health-care quality indicators, not even the countries with a higher share of health expenditure. This means that countries can still do more in the field of prevention, early diagnosis and treatment.
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