When patients avoiding consultations, because they can't afford, can diseases develop themselves unnecessarily, sounds a warning.

Patients in Denmark who do not speak English, is increasingly starting to use relatives to translate at doctor's appointments, after the introduction of co-payment and reimbursement of interpreters in July 2018.

It estimates 90 percent of the respondents practitioners and 67 percent of hospitalslægerne in a new report made by the Institute for human Rights and the medical association. It writes the Information.

Tolkegebyret has caused a number of problems, says the medical association.

- It is a really big problem, when children or other family members become interpreters in the conversations. Firstly, they are rarely good enough interpreters. In addition, it is a problem if the children are whirled into patients perhaps serious illness.

- Unfortunately, this means tolkegebyret also, patients sometimes do not show up for the session, because they can't afford to pay for interpretation. It means that the disease may develop itself more seriously than it should have done, says the chairman Andreas Rudkjøbing to Ritzau.

He also points out that the fee causes a lot of red tape for the doctors. It means that they need to spend time on much else than the actual medicine.

for example, This could be the explanation of the fee and the subsequent recovery of the.

Tolkegebyret is that immigrants with longer than three years of stay in Denmark even must pay for an interpreter if they do not speak Danish yet. It is, for example, when they go to the doctor.

The previous government introduced the fee last year. The idea was that it would increase the group's incentive to learn Danish.

the Study is based on responses from 623 physicians, who on average are in contact with at least one patient per week with the need for interpreting services. 418 of the participating doctors are doctors. 205 is the doctors employed at the hospital.

the Institute for human Rights suggests that when patients bring relatives into konsultationslokalet instead of professional interpreters, increases the risk of fejloversættelser and thus misdiagnosis.

in Addition, it can prevent confidential conversations between doctor and patient.

/ritzau/