• Julkaistu
• 4.07.07

Who has a right to use the services?

One of the harder parts about being in a foreign country, especially in the beginning, is getting familiar with what your rights are and are not. Here is some information on foreigners rights to services in Finland.

The plain and simple rule 
All the people with a permanent residence permit in Finland (residence permit for at least one year) are entitled to the same health care and social services as a Finnish citizen. People obtain these services from their home municipalities, which are responsible for all the necessary arrangements. Someone without a home municipality in Finland can only receive services from first aid stations within public hospitals for acute crisis situations. 

People with a permanent residence permit should receive the KELA card when receiving their permanent residence status. You can find out more about the services offered from your municipality’s social services, health centres, A-clinics and the treatment centre register maintained by Stakes (in Finnish). 

For more information contact:

• Kela - Social Insurance Institution

Asylum Seekers 
Asylum seekers live in reception centres in different parts of Finland. Reception centres are financed and supervised by the State and maintained by the State, the municipalities or the Finnish Red Cross. The reception centres are responsible for providing health care services for asylum seekers. Also possible addictions (alcohol or drugs) are primarily treated by the health care staff in the reception centre. Because asylum seekers do not (yet) have a residence permit, s/he is not a resident of any municipality and therefor s/he is not entitled to municipal health care services. One option is that the reception centre buys the services for addiction treatment from the municipality.

You can get more information from the health care staff in the reception centres or from the Ministry of the Interior (migration). Finnish immigration service is primarily responsible for the reception of asylum seekers in Finland.

Concerning addiction treatment
Local A-Clinics are for the most part flexible regarding the need for documentation, especially in crisis situations, but since treatment in institutions can be quite expensive and the home municipalities will pay the costs, it cannot be afforded to those without a permanent residence permit. 

If you don't have a permanent residence permit, there are also other options for help. Some private medical centres (Mehiläinen etc.) and hospitals (Eiran sairaala) offer services for intoxicant abusers. Also private addiction treatment clinics (ContrAl Clinics etc.) offer services based on different methods. Services in private sector can be quite expensive.