Hospital transfer from Finland to another country

The treatment provider may arrange a patient’s transfer abroad. The costs of the hospital transfer are usually the responsibility of the treatment provider or the patient.


If you are in public hospital care in Finland and are transferred for further treatment to another country by the treatment provider’s decision, the transport costs are usually covered by the Finnish treatment provider. In the event that the transfer is made primarily of your own will, you are normally responsible for the transport costs. If the matter has been agreed upon in advance, however, another party, such as the receiving hospital or an insurance company, may cover the costs or pay a portion of them.

If you receive private health care treatment in Finland, you must determine who will pay the transport costs before travelling. Generally speaking, you will be liable to pay the costs yourself.

Treatment must be provided so that you can travel home independently

In public health care, your treatment will be aimed at enabling you to travel safely back to your country of residence. If public health care decides to arrange transport for a patient to his/her home country, it must agree upon the practical arrangements with the receiving hospital or facility. The costs of the hospital transfer are covered by the treatment provider or the patient if he/she is transferred for treatment to a country other than another Nordic country.

Hospital transfer to another Nordic country

If you live in another Nordic country and are a registered patient being treated by the Finnish public health care system, the hospital transfer can be arranged based on the Nordic Convention on Social Security without you paying the transport costs yourself.

Transfer of a person in long-term treatment to another Nordic country

If you are in long-term institutional care in Finland or are receiving other long-term care through social services and would like to move to another Nordic country, your municipality of residence may be bound by the Nordic Convention on Social Security with regard to the arrangements of your move.

In the context of your move, the municipality will prepare an agreement with the receiving social services authority on when the responsibility for organising your treatment will be transferred from the sender to the receiving body. The liability for costs may be transferred on the day of the move, or a six-month transition period may be agreed. In addition to this, the agreement usually involves the municipality determining who will pay for your travel and how assistance will be provided for you during the trip.

Municipalities are responsible for the implementation of the Convention on Social Security in Finland. The purpose of the convention is to enable clients in need of continuous treatment or care to move to a country to which they have special ties.

The convention applies to the move of clients in need of long-term treatment or care to other Nordic countries. The convention is primarily relevant for clients in long-term care who wish to move to another Nordic country.