Healthcare for international students in Finland
Are you moving to Finland to earn a degree in higher education? The information gathered here is intended to complement our general information page for new students, by highlighting situations faced specifically by international students as healthcare clients.
The general FSHS Guide for new students is available on its own site
Page content
- What you should know about coming to Finland
- How we can control infectious diseases in Finland
- Healthcare in Finland
- Who to contact in questions related to health or illness
- Contacting the FSHS
What you should know about coming to Finland
All international students are advised to apply for a Finnish personal identity code, bring their health information, prescriptions and any necessary medicines with them and familiarise themselves with the MyKanta service.
The personal identity code in Finland
After arriving in Finland as a student, you should apply for a Finnish personal identity code, called henkilötunnus in Finnish. This code is used in Finland by many data systems, both official (Tax Administration, Social Insurance Institution) and private (banks, employers, healthcare providers, insurance companies), to identify you. You’ll need a personal identity code to apply for government benefits, to work as an employee, for tax purposes, to open a bank account and to use health services, among many other uses. The code is used to ensure that the right information and services are linked to the right person.
Within healthcare, the personal identity code is needed to identify you and to ensure that your health information and medications can be saved in your (and not someone else’s) patient records in real time to support treatment effectiveness and monitoring. The code also makes it easier for you to access digital services, widely used in Finland. Electronic prescriptions issued by doctors, for example, can be accessed by any pharmacy in the country.
Whenever you contact any healthcare service, your personal identity code will usually be the first thing they confirm. Always be prepared to provide your code, whether over the phone or in person (in this case, by showing an official identity document).
Information on personal identity codes in Finland (dvv.fi)
How do I get a Finnish personal identity code?
You can be issued a personal identity code if you have an acceptable reason for staying in Finland and if there are grounds for your registration in the Population Information System. These grounds may include:
- working in Finland
- studying in Finland
- having a family member with a registered address in Finland.
Registration of a foreigner’s personal data in the Population Information System (dvv.fi)
Bring your health information with you
When coming to Finland, bring all your necessary health information with you, either as digital or physical copies. Make sure to do this especially if you have important information about your health and you’re going to need treatment or medications while in Finland. If you need to see a healthcare professional or need further treatment, first register as an attending student at your educational institution after having arrived in Finland and then contact the FSHS.
Medications and prescriptions
If you take any medications regularly, bring copies of these prescriptions with you from your home country. Also bring enough of the medicines to last you the first few months in Finland. Remember that you can only buy prescription-only medicines in Finland with a prescription that was written by a doctor in Finland. If you need to get a prescription renewed, first register as an attending student at your educational institution after having arrived in Finland and then contact the FSHS.
The nationwide health information service
MyKanta is a nationwide online service in which you can access your health information any time you like. You can also use it to request renewal of your prescriptions and to check your health information.
If you consent to the sharing of your patient data, your data will be accessible to healthcare professionals at any healthcare unit or provider you visit. You have a say in the extent to which your data can be used within healthcare and social welfare. You can consent to the sharing of your healthcare patient data or your social welfare services client data separately.
Social welfare services client data will also be made available in MyKanta in the future. Always use the kanta.fi site to log in to MyKanta.
Go to MyKanta (kanta.fi)
How we can control infectious diseases in Finland
When starting your studies in Finland, check which vaccinations you’ve received and whether you might be in a risk group for tuberculosis (TB) or other infectious diseases.
Vaccinations
While still in your home country, find out which vaccinations you’ve been given and when. We provide all vaccinations belonging to the Finnish vaccination programme for everyone living permanently in Finland. If you have any questions about vaccinations or if you know you have only had vaccinations as a child or have had no vaccinations whatsoever, contact the FSHS after arriving in Finland. A public health nurse will assess your need for vaccinations.
The Finnish vaccination programme
Vaccinations that are part of the national vaccination programme are provided free of charge for everyone living in Finland.
The percentage of vaccinated people in the country is high. Vaccination is an efficient and safe way to prevent infectious diseases. Vaccines protect not only the people receiving them, but also everyone else indirectly by reducing the spread of pathogens among the population.
It’s important to keep your vaccinations up to date. All adults must make sure they’ve received the primary series of a minimum of three tetanus-diphtheria-polio vaccinations as well as two doses of the MMR vaccine that offers protection against measles, mumps and rubella. It’s also possible to have developed immunity against measles through a prior infection.
The vaccination programme covers the entire lifetime, with boosters of tetanus and diphtheria being given every 10 to 20 years even to the elderly.
If you’re a student in healthcare and social welfare or early childhood education and care, your vaccinations must be up to date before you start your first practical training. If you think you may be missing any vaccinations or that your vaccinations may not be up to date, contact the FSHS. You can check the vaccination guidelines for your field of study in the check-in digital treatment path for healthcare and social welfare students in YTHSDigi.
Link to the information page for healthcare and social welfare students
Screening for tuberculosis (TB)
If you’re in a risk group for tuberculosis (TB), we recommend being screened. If we find that you have TB and need treatment, the treatment for TB in Finland will be provided free of charge.
More information about TB screenings by the FSHS
All international students arriving in Finland are provided an infectious diseases check by the FSHS.
We recommend that you complete the Communicable Diseases Questionnaire at fshs.fi. If your answers suggest you might be missing vaccinations or might need to be screened for TB, contact the FSHS.
The FSHS Communicable Diseases Questionnaire (PDF)
High-risks countries are determined by the National Institute for Health and Welfare. Students coming from these countries are provided TB screening and blood testing for infectious diseases. If you suspect or know that you’ve been in contact with someone with TB, contact the FSHS’s assessment of the need for treatment team.
Healthcare in Finland
Healthcare in Finland is based on public healthcare services to which everyone living permanently in the country is entitled. Public healthcare services are divided into primary (general) and secondary (specialised) care and are funded by taxes. In Finland, public entities called wellbeing services counties (hyvinvointialue in Finnish) are responsible for the development of healthcare and social welfare services and for the organisation of primary and secondary care services.
Primary care
Public primary care involves the treatment of problems in the area of general practice. It is often the first point of contact for people needing healthcare services. Primary care services include health station appointments, urgent care provided at health stations, maternity and child health clinic services, school and student healthcare outside higher education, and oral healthcare.
Public healthcare services are available for everyone in Finland. Alternatively, private healthcare services are available for those who wish to have fast access to medical care, such as an appointment with a specialist. Unless covered by your private health insurance, private services need to paid out-of-pocket.
All employers provide voluntary preventive health checks to look after employee wellbeing, and many also offer the possibility to receive care through private occupational healthcare.
Secondary care
Secondary care services include examinations and treatments within specialised medical and dental care, such as appointments with a specialist (gynaecologist, orthopaedic surgeon, ophthalmologist etc.) in specialised healthcare units or emergency departments.
If you’re referred to secondary care by an FSHS physician, you’ll have to pay for these specialised healthcare services yourself.
Healthcare fees
Most of the true costs of healthcare are covered by taxes and only some are paid by healthcare clients.
FSHS activities are funded by taxes, Finnish student unions and the healthcare fee paid by higher education students.
All higher education students have to pay this fee to the Social Insurance Institution (Kela) on a yearly basis. Except for this yearly fee, you won’t be charged for FSHS visits; however, you’ll be charged a fee if you miss an appointment without an acceptable reason. Don’t forget to notify us at least 24 hours in advance if you need to reschedule or cancel an appointment.
How to reschedule or cancel an appointment
The fees charged by wellbeing services counties vary. Each wellbeing services county is responsible for determining the fees charged for appointments with health centre physicians, emergency care and specialised outpatient care in its area. These fees are not covered by the higher education student healthcare fee, which means that you’ll have to pay for these services yourself if you need them.
Who to contact in questions related to health or illness
Non-urgent need for healthcare
Non-urgent means your illness or problem doesn’t require treatment immediately or on the same day.
As a higher education student, you can contact the FSHS for non-urgent care. Examples include
- health promotion (vaccinations, health consultations, sexual health)
- non-urgent illnesses
- mental health problems not requiring urgent or emergency care
- life crisis
- checkups for chronic illnesses not requiring specialised healthcare.
You also have the right to seek treatment elsewhere, such as at your public health station or with private healthcare providers, but in this case you’ll need to pay any service and client fees yourself.
As a rule, non-urgent vision screenings are paid-out-pocket
Non-urgent routine visual acuity tests (vision screenings) are not included in the services provided by the FSHS or other public healthcare providers in Finland. If you need to have your vision checked, for example if you need glasses, you’ll need to pay any costs yourself. To book an appointment for a vision screening, contact your preferred optician.
Urgent need for care
If it’s not an emergency, but you need to have your need for treatment assessed within the same day, call (+358) 116 117 or visit the emergency services in your area.
Reasons for needing urgent care may include
- intense or sudden abdominal pain, chest pain or headache
- moderate breathing difficulties
- sudden high fever not responding to painkillers and feeling clearly unwellinjury such as a large wound, suspected fracture, or sprain
- sudden allergic reaction, excluding conditions requiring immediate treatment such as anaphylaxis.
If it’s daytime, you can contact your health station. You can check which health station area you belong to based on your address. Some health stations are also open in the evenings – check the opening hours for your health station online.
You can also seek medical attention with private healthcare providers, who often offer fast access to assessments and treatment. In this case, you’ll need to pay the service and client fees yourself.
If you seek treatment at an emergency department, be prepared to wait for your turn. Arriving patients are assessed for their need for treatment, and this assessment determines the order in which patients will be treated.
Emergencies and immediate need for treatment
If you’re experiencing a serious symptom or are seriously injured, call the emergency number, 112.
Examples of such situations include
- chest pain
- stroke symptoms, such sudden floppiness or loss of function in a limb or trouble speaking
- acute mental health problems requiring urgent care
- heavy bleeding
- major injuries and fractures
- sudden intense headache
- difficulty breathing
- sudden intense or worsening abdominal pain.
Follow the instructions given by the emergency response centre operator, and only hang up the phone when the operator has given you permission to do so.
Contacting the FSHS
You can contact the FSHS in the YTHSDigi service or by calling us. Contact us when you have a symptom requiring non-urgent care, need to be vaccinated or screened for infectious diseases, or need a prescription renewed.
- Explain your health problem or symptom or other reason for contacting us.
- One of our professionals will assess your need for treatment and the urgency level.
- Based on this assessment, you may be given instructions for home care, referred for an examination or laboratory test or booked an appointment with a physician, dentist, nurse, dental hygienist or physiotherapist.
- Depending on the assessment and the available services, you may also be referred to your health station or public emergency services.
See the separate page below for the opening hours of each channel available for contacting the FSHS.
Expanded contact information for FSHS