Finland, Estonia ink health cooperation deal

Finland and Estonia on Friday signed a deal with the view to further strengthening cooperation between the neighbouring countries in the field of digitalisation and innovation in the social and health sector.

Minister of Family Affairs and Social Services Krista Kiuru and her Estonian counterpart Taneli Kiik signed the deal on behalf of their respective countries, said the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health in a press release.

Finland and Estonia have long cooperated in digitalisation and innovation in the social and health sector and in cross-border exchange of information.

Although the cooperation document is not legally binding, it will further strengthen this work.

Based on it, joint measures can be planned and monitored, and information and experiences can be exchanged regularly.

An example of cooperation already in place is the exchange of electronic prescriptions based on European prescriptions.

Estonia and Finland were the first countries to start this cooperation.

The electronic prescription facilitates people's lives, for example in situations where they are in another country for a long period of time or they forget to bring their medicine when leaving for a journey.

In the future, cooperation will increasingly take place, for example, in the field of individual medicine, by increasing the opportunities for secondary use of health data across borders and by enhancing exchange of information on health and social security matters between countries.

Finland and Estonia also conduct significant cooperation to promote European digitalisation and innovation and other international cooperation. An example of this is the goal to create interoperable information systems in Europe.