 |
| Jakob Skaarup Nielsen, CEO of Healthcare DENMARK, poses at the Danish Embassy in Seoul, Sept. 29. Courtesy of Embassy of Denmark in Korea |
Healthcare DENMARK CEO seeks cooperation on smart hospitals
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Denmark is one of the first countries in the world to lift all COVID-19 restrictions. As of Sept. 10, the country concluded that COVID-19 is "no longer a critical threat to society" due to the country's high level of vaccinations.
"Denmark officially shut down on March 11, 2020. On Sept. 10, exactly 18 months later, Denmark declared COVID-19 an endemic disease, meaning it's not a critical disease for the society," Jakob Skaarup Nielsen, CEO of Healthcare DENMARK, said during an interview with The Korea Times, Sept. 29.
Nielsen visited Korea recently for six days to boost cooperation between Denmark and Korea in the fields of healthcare and life science, paying special attention to smart healthcare infrastructure featuring information and communications technology (ICT), and to share Danish experiences with the pandemic.
As public health officials in Korea are discussing shifting to a so-called "living with COVID-19" strategy as the pandemic continues, Denmark's experience might lead the way, he said.
"So in Denmark right now, we have no restrictions. (There are) no masks and everyone can sit together. People can shake hands again and kids go to school normally. The interesting thing is how quickly people can let go of all this. In the first week or two, it was a little bit awkward whether to shake hands or not. But now in Denmark, it's like COVID was never there."
The government is still tracking COVID-19 cases, but "everything is under control," according to Nielsen.
Nielsen argues that Denmark's early return to normalcy is possible through the country's high vaccination rate. As of the end of September, more than 75 percent of the total Danish population were fully vaccinated and among the eligible people over the age of 12, the rate was 84 percent.
For Nielsen, vaccination is the key to ending the pandemic, but it is also important for the Korean government to weigh the situation and take the right measures.
"It is always a question about weighing. Is the measure you take correctly related to the risk? In Denmark, we are accepting that COVID is in Denmark, in the world, so we can never get to zero. But we have to find a level where young vaccinated people get COVID, but the society keeps on going," Nielsen said.
Denmark has three principles in dealing with COVID-19 at the government level.
"Principle no. 1: 'hope' is not a strategy, meaning you have to have a plan. No. 2: 'soon' is not a time, so you also have to know how to implement the strategy with the right timing. And the third one: 'some' is not a number, meaning we tried to minimize the number of people who have the coronavirus, who get seriously sick and die from the coronavirus," Nielsen said.
In fact, Denmark's COVID-19 statistics are similar to those of South Korea. As of Sept. 29, Denmark had reported some 358,000 cumulative cases and 2,652 deaths, while Korea has some 311,000 cases and 2,481 deaths. However, Denmark has a population of 5.8 million, which is only about one-tenth of Korea's population of 51.8 million.
"If you look at the numbers, South Korea did very well. We have almost the same number of cases, but Korea is 10 times bigger (in its population). South Korea did relatively much better than Denmark, but in an international perspective, (Denmark) has done very well too."
 |
| Jakob Skaarup Nielsen, left, CEO of Healthcare DENMARK, and Kwon Soon-man, president of Korea Health Industry Development Institute, pose after signing an MOU on healthcare cooperation at Danish Ambassador to Korea Einar Jensen's residence in Seongbuk District, Seoul, Sept. 29. Courtesy of the Embassy of Denmark in Korea |
Innovation in healthcare
Healthcare DENMARK is a non-profit organization that promotes Danish healthcare services internationally. Nielsen, a career diplomat, took the post in March with the aim of strengthening international cooperation.
Crown Princess Mary is a patron of Healthcare DENMARK, reflecting the royal family's responsibility for taking care of health services.
"Denmark is one of the oldest kingdoms in the world, and it is the royal family's role for the society to look after the healthcare of citizens. Her Royal Highness is very committed to supporting healthcare partnerships between Denmark and other countries, both in the public and private sectors," Nielsen said.
Denmark is a leading country in innovation and technology in the healthcare sector, and medical and health science is one of Denmark's largest export areas, accounting for 22 percent of all exports in 2020.
"The Danish healthcare system is public, meaning there's equal access for everybody and universal coverage. So whether you are taxi driver or you are the Queen of Denmark, you go to the same hospital, see the same doctor and get the same treatment. In order to have a sustainable healthcare system, there has to be a good and close dialogue between the public and the private," Nielsen said.
"Healthcare DENMARK is a public-private partnership. On the public side, it has three key ministries ― the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Business and Growth. On the regional level, the Danish regions are responsible for all the hospitals and the municipalities who take care of the elderly. We have a number of private companies that are also our partners in the health and care sectors."
 |
| Healthcare DENMARK CEO Jakob Skaarup Nielsen, right, takes a photo of an autonomous mobile robot delivering medicine at the Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center in Daegu, Sept. 28. Nielsen visited the hospital to take part in the 2021 Health-Tech Workshop, co-hosted by the Embassy of Denmark, Healthcare DENMARK and the hospital, to introduce the Danish Super Hospital project and to boost Danish-Korean cooperation in healthcare technology. Courtesy of the Embassy of Denmark in Korea |
The mission of the Danish healthcare cluster is to create partnerships internationally and arrange delegations, and Nielsen's visit to Korea is to develop an MOU signed in March by Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke and Korean Health Minister Kwon Deok-cheol, as the two countries decided to cooperate on a number of areas where they share the same challenges, such as obesity, mental health issues and a growing elderly population.
"We need to find new, innovative solutions, because we have a growing elderly population. We have more people with chronic diseases and more people with poor mobility. So we need to do something in order to make it sustainable, because otherwise, all our resources will run out," Nielsen said.
Korea plans to transform 18 hospitals into highly digitized "smart hospitals" by 2025, and Healthcare DENMARK sees potential for collaboration, as this idea is similar to the Danish Super Hospital program.
During this trip, Nielsen visited the Keimyung University Dongsan Medical Center in the southeastern city of Daegu to host a seminar on health and technology, introducing Danish technologies and looking for ways to cooperate in smart and super hospitals.
"This is one of the smart hospitals in Korea that has some of the same technologies we use in Denmark, such as robotics and automatic sampling. I think we have the same challenges in Denmark and Korea. (These hospitals) will have more patients who will expect better service. And even though budgets will go up, we will never (be able to) spend enough. So we have to work smarter," he said.
"We also think we have some new technologies and experiences to share with Korea. One of them is energy efficiency in hospitals. To give you an idea of how big hospitals are today, the largest private wastewater plant in Denmark is actually a hospital. The Aarhus University Hospital, which is ranked the 11th-best hospital in the world, runs a wastewater plant that converts waste to energy, and the building is in fact energy-neutral. Korea is very focused on clean energy and energy efficiency, so operations and management systems also can be areas we could collaborate on."
Nielsen also mentioned digital healthcare and health data as other possible areas of cooperation.
"In the future of healthcare, all technologies will come into play, but data is the key. How to use the data, who owns the data, how to keep them safe, what they can used for ― it's a huge issue and we need to find a solution. In Denmark, your data is yours, while we use the data in the public system. We want to use more health data in the future, but we need to find a safe way to do it. So hopefully the government-to-government relationship between Denmark and Korea can facilitate some new inspirations in that area."
![[INTERVIEW] How Frank Wildhorn became most popular musical composer in Korea](https://img.koreatimes.co.kr/upload/thumbnailV2/aa01bf883001442494bf0555432fe510.jpg/dims/resize/178/optimize)
