Frequently asked questions

• Your primary FSHS service unit is the one in your study town. If necessary, you will be permitted to book an appointment to a service unit which is run by the FSHS at another town.
• If there is no FSHS service unit in the area where your educational institution is located, the required services are produced by a partner branch. The usage volume of partner service units are calculated by the amount of higher education students located in the area the branch operates in. This is why only students who study at a location with a partner service unit can use that unit.
• In addition, our digital services are available to all students, regardless of where in Finland they are. Many FSHS professionals offer remote appointments, which reduces the need to travel.

• An appointment can only be booked after the need for treatment has been assessed. As part of the assessment, a healthcare professional will evaluate your situation, assess your need for treatment and its level of urgency, provide you with self-care instructions and, if necessary, help you access further FSHS services.
• You can contact the need for treatment by calling one of our nationwide service numbers via the Self online service by using chat or completing a service form. Read more

• In case you are an incoming international exchange student can no longer use FSHS services as of 1^st of January 2021.

However, you can find further information about the Finnish health care system through these websites:

• Finnish Immigration Service
• The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (European Health Insurance Card)
• The European Commission (European Health Insurance Card)
• InfoFinland (general information in several languages)

• The mental health services which the FSHS produces and which are part of the student health care are essentially equal to the treatments one can receive from a public health center. With the difference that the FSHS does not produce rehabilitative services related to mental health and does not treat patient with substance abuse background or opioid dependencies.
• In case you have an on-going treatment relationship with special health care (for instance at a psychiatric polyclinic), then the FSHS cannot provide you with the same level of treatment. However, in such situations the FSHS can provide additional support for your study abilities. In case you have an on-going patient relationship with a health center then you can move your treatment relationship to the FSHS provided that your relationship does not consist of rehabilitation or treatment of substance abuse. Before you move your patient relationship to us you should discuss the matter with the treating person at your current place of treatment in order to assess whether such a move would be appropriate.

• The FSHS treats often problems related to wisdom teeth as they are very common amongst students. The decision to remove wisdom teeth is made in connection to a dentist appointment and the removal of wisdom teeth is done free of charge.

• Studens at Åland University of Applied Sciences cannot use FSHS services because their student health care is organized under another juristriction. Therefore, they also do not need to pay the student health care fee.

• When you book appointments at the FSHS you will always need to contact us through our national service numbers or the SelfChat. At this stage it does not matter where you live.

• Students at open universities are not encompassed by FSHS services.

• Students use services primarily from their own service unit. In case it is a service unit which is maintained by one of our partners then only those students who study at that particular location can use services from there.

• At the FSHS dermatologists have a consultative role. When you come to an appointment at the FSHS a doctor can, if necessary, consult a dermatologist. In case your matter cannot be solved at the appointment you can be forwarded to further treatment.

• FSHS specially appointed teams will take care of all the needs of the educational institutions. For instance, the vaccinations are conducted often in such a way that the nurse will come to the location where the students are.

• You can use FSHS services during weekdays throughout the year. However, there will be shorter opening hours during certain holidays which occur during weekdays (New Year’s Eve, Maundy Thursday and Walpurgis Night).

• A student who has the right to use student health care services and has enrolled themselves as present has the right to use FSHS services until the end of the semester, even if they have graduation during the semester.

• We cannot conduct remote consultations with students who are on student exchange or internship abroad due to the act on patient insurance (22.8.2019/948).

• The health care fee is in 2023 73,60 euros. The fee is EUR 36,80 per term, and it is paid for both the spring and the autumn term. Students will pay the healthcare fee to KELA to access FSHS services.
• The health care fee is in 2024 73,60 euros. The fee is EUR 36,80 per term, and it is paid for both the spring and the autumn term. Students will pay the healthcare fee to KELA to access FSHS services.

• We found the following information at Kela’s own website:
• If you do not pay the healthcare fee by the due date, Kela will send you a reminder. If the healthcare fee is paid after the due date, a fixed late-payment fee will be charged. If you do not pay the healthcare fee after having been reminded of it, Kela can withhold the fee and the late-payment fee from your study grant payments without consulting you. If the fee cannot be withheld from the study grant payments, the healthcare fee will be referred to the enforcement authority for collection.

• We have received several questions regarding this subject and through this answer we attempt to answer to them all:
• Kela charges the student health care fee from all those students who are encompassed by the FSHS services. All students draw benefits from FSHS services regardless to whether they come to appointments or not. The mission of the FSHS is, according to the act on healthcare for students in higher education and the Ministry of Social Affair’s Guide on student health care, to provide students with health care services. However, the same guiding documents state that the FSHS’s mission is to further student’s health on a more general level which also includes improving the well-being of the community health as well as the health and safety of study environments. All students benefit from many of these objectives. Even those who do not use individual services. In other words, the health care fee does not equal an individuals appointment services but on a broader level the student health care in its entirety.

• Domestic students or students who come from the EU/EEA-area are not subject to tuition fees. However, institutions of higher education make their own decision on the amount of tuition fee they charge from their students from those students that come outside this area. You can find the latest and best information regarding tuition fees from your own educational institution. For information regarding student union’s membership fee you can find information from your own student union.

• We forwarded this question to Migri who provided us an answer to this question.
• Although a student can receive services from the FSHS a health insurance will be necessary for the entire duration of the stay within Finland.
• Please note, that students from the European Union as well as Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom can meet this requirement through obtaining the European Health Insurance Card.

• Kela cannot bill students because Kela will not have a list of all affected students before the due date. The healthcare fee must be paid by all students who register as attending. However, it is possible to register as attending as late as the due date. For example, the first due date is scheduled for 31 January 2021. Students who register as attending on that date must pay the fee on the same date.
• To reach all students who are required to pay the fee, we are providing information about the change and about the fee through several different channels
  
  More information at Kela’s website.

• No, you don’t. The healthcare fee is assessed on individual students and not on the basis of the number of higher education institutions attended. Kela answered the question here already.

• You can request a decision from Kela concerning the payment of the student health care fee.

The answer to this questions was found in Kela’s frequently asked questions-site:

• The fee must be paid by students who are studying for a Finnish higher education degree and have registered as attending for the autumn or spring term.
• If you are registered as attending in a Finnish higher education institution while doing your study exchange or other period of foreign study, you must pay the healthcare fee. You do not have to pay the healthcare fee if you are registered as non-attending.
• Higher education institutions do not have a uniform policy on whether they require students to register as attending while on a study exchange.

• Kela cannot bill students because they do not have a list of all affected students before the due date. The healthcare fee must be paid by all students who register as attending. However, it is possible to register as attending as late as the due date. For example, the first due date is scheduled for 31 January 2021. Students who register as attending on that date must pay the fee on the same date.
• To reach all students who are required to pay the fee, we are providing information about the change and about the fee through several different channels. In January 2021, we will send a letter about the healthcare fee to students who registered as attending by early January but have not yet paid the fee.

• In case you are encompassed by the FSHS services the health care fee must be paid in accordance to schedule set by Kela. However, the schedule depends on when you are enrolled as present at your educational institution. For instance, if you enroll as present between the 1st of October and the 31st of December then you are obliged to pay the health care fee by the end of the year. You can use FSHS services once you are enrolled as present.

You do not have to pay the healthcare fee if you have social security coverage from another EU/EEA country or from Switzerland, Northern Ireland or the United Kingdom. Even if you do not have to pay the fee, you can still use the services of the Finnish Student Health Service. If you want to use the FSHS’s services you must be prepared to show a valid European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). Students covered by social security in Great Britain and Northern Ireland can show a Global Health Insurance (GHIC) card. You will have to present the card at each visit, whether remote or in person. In the absence of a card, you must provide a provisional replacement certificate.

Students must also provide a copy of a valid European Health Insurance Card to Kela to prove that they are not required to pay the healthcare fee. Students who have social security coverage in Great Britain or Northern Ireland can send a copy of either a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) or Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC). For more detailed instructions, always see Kela’s website.

Yes, a specialist doctor or specialist medical care provider charges a visit fee according to their own price list.