Crisis, Estonia, Financial Services, Health, Medicine

People who are not in any family doctor's roster can seek help from the nearest family medicine center.

A comparison of data of Statistics Estonia and the Health Insurance Fund shows that at the start of the year, close to 66,000 people in Estonia did not have medical insurance. Some of them may be insured in another state; the exact number of people without health insurance is not known.

The Health Insurance Fund said that both emergency medical care and coronavirus tests and treatment in hospital for these people will be covered by the fund.

"The state will pay for the urgent medical care of these people regardless of where they turn to, and at present we have categorized all cases where people request for help for acute illnesses as requiring emergency care," Heli Paluste, head of the health care unit of the Ministry of Social Affairs' department of health system development, said.

Paluste listed fever, cough, sore throat, joint pain and runny nose as symptoms of acute infection.

Residents at Tallinn's shelters and social housing number around 500. These people have health insurance and a family doctor, head of the Tallinn Social Welfare Center Kersti Poldemaa, said.

Poldemaa estimated that the number of people who are not seeking help from the Social Welfare Center may be around 50 to 60. Those who turn to the center, are informed about the coronavirus outbreak and the necessity of hand hygiene.

Information is provided at the center both in Estonian and Russian.