Oslo hospital reported for trafficking nurses

Oslo University Hospital (OUS) has been reported to the police for allegedly exploiting Filipino nurses.

According to reports, the hospital head signed documents to allow staff to be brought to the country via a furniture restoration company.

Staff members are denying any knowledge of the scheme, but emails sent between management suggest they were aware that three Filipino women had been brought to the country to work as nurses. It is also reported that the hospital failed to process work permits for the women.

On arrival, the three women were forced to take loans of SEK 300,000 (EUR 33,648) from the furniture company and then pay them back from their salaries, according to NRK.

OUS has only now begun an internal investigation into the allegations after Progress Party MP Kjønaas Kjos made an official complaint to police.

“This happened in 2010, and I only got to know about it last Wednesday,” OUS Managing Director Bjørn Erikstein said in a report by The Foreigner. “I then immediately set a review of this matter in motion. This is not a way to recruit medical staff. This is not how we do things,” he added.

OUS has also now reported the furniture company for fraud.

“The hospital has reported us for something they are the architects of,” one of the firm’s owners said. “I told the hospital the project had to be financed by the women taking out a loan. At that point, the hospital said it was none of their concern.”