Local doctor forced to close after 35 years following health authority ruling

A long-serving general practitioner in eastern Norway has been ordered to shut down his practice after health authorities ruled his patient list was unsustainably large, leaving around 2,100 residents without a family doctor from 10 April.

Arnaldo Lerner, 65, has run his clinic in Kirkenær, Grue municipality, for nearly three decades, treating up to 70 patients daily. But Norway’s Health Economics Administration (Helfo) has now intervened, imposing a fine of several million kroner and revoking his license, Dagbladet reports.

“Hei, tjukken!” (“Hi, chubby!”) patient Per Kjølstad greets Lerner as the doctor enters the room for a blood draw—one of many routine interactions in a practice where Lerner has built long-term relationships. Kjølstad, like roughly 2,100 others in the small community, will lose his family doctor next month.

The clinic, housed in a white wooden building with light-blue trim along Kirkenær’s main road, has been a local institution. Lerner’s daily routine began before dawn, descending from his upstairs home to the ground-floor practice. But Helfo’s decision, citing excessive patient load, brings an abrupt end to his career.

Norway’s ongoing shortage of general practitioners has left rural areas particularly vulnerable. Grue municipality, with a population of around 4,500, now faces further strain as patients scramble to secure new doctors amid limited capacity.