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Healthcare center relocation from Laugarás to Flúðir termed ‘well-considered’ amid local disagreement

Friday 12th 2024 on 16:55 in  
Iceland

The decision to relocate the healthcare center from Laugarás, Biskupstungum to Flúðir has been described as a well-considered step by the Director of the Southern Health Institution, who also expressed disappointment about the negative discourse concerning the move.

In the spring of 2025, the healthcare center will be moved from Laugarás to Flúðir. Diana Óskarsdóttir, the director of HSU, describes the move as well-considered.

The plan to transfer the healthcare center from Laugarás to Flúðir has been a topic of contention among the locals in the Southern countryside. The Mayor of Bláskógabyggð believes that the preparations for the move, planned for spring 2025, have been poorly handled.

Diana Óskarsdóttir, the director of the Southern Health Institution, disagrees, stating that the contrary, all arguments for and against the move have been listened to. She adds that the matter has been examined from all angles, including financial feasibility. “We have also been looking at the population numbers and how the area is structured,” she says.

The State Execution Administration announced a call for buildings in the countryside that could house a healthcare center. Three bids were received and, following a thorough analysis, a contract was signed with the lowest bidder and it was decided that the healthcare center would be in Flúðir.

It has been proposed that the maintenance needs for the current building amount to around 150 million krona, hence the decision to move. However, it has been criticized that no formal inspection was conducted on the building and that this figure is mostly based on renovations of the healthcare center in Thorlákshöfn.

The building is owned by the State Execution Administration and Diana asserts that the figure is based on comparable projects that the administration has handled. In addition to this, existing plans for changes to the healthcare center in Laugarás were considered.

“The cost is not just for renovations. This is a correction to the building but also a restructuring of the internal organization of the building to make it more modern and better serve the operation we are running,” says Diana. It is considered that the cost has been carefully estimated.