The Icelandic Canadian - 01.11.2007, Side 24

66
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Vol. 61 #2
the National Assembly (Althing) that a
hospital be built in Reykjavik and that local
medical studies be made available in the
country (See Althing, 1857 pages 156-160).
The Althing then petitioned the King on
this issue, but the government did not see
fit to act on these matters. However,
Hjaltalin himself was a member of the
Althing, as an appointee of the King, and
he made the motion himself to establish a
medical school and hospital in Reykjavik.
He sent the same entreaty to the King. Still
the government did not see fit to approve
the petition coming from the National
Assembly, as it raised the issue of financial
assistance already being paid out to
Icelandic medical students in Denmark.
Would the establishment of a medical
school and hospital in Iceland compromise
the funding system to assist medical stu-
dents in foreign schools, especially
Denmark? In the session of 1861, the issue
of a local medical school and hospital,
along with the implications for the present
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system of funding medical students in for-
eign schools, was brought forward. As a
consequence, the National Assembly
acquiesced to Hjaltalin's recommendations
and sent an addendum to his petition to the
King, requesting that the Chief Medical
Officer for Iceland be allowed to provide
instructions to medical students on a
national basis as long as the quality of the
instruction meet the standards set jointly
by the King's officials in the health admin-
istration in Copenhagen and the Chief
Medical Officer in Iceland, and that satis-
factory completion of the ensuing exami-
nations would qualify Icelandic medical
students to practice medicine in the various
districts in the country. The cost of financ-
ing such studies would be borne by the
National Treasury to the amount of 600
Danish dollars or 1200 kronar, to be paid
out of existing funds allocated for medical
training and hospital facilities.
The decision of the Althing was to dis-
allow the establishment of a local medical
school and hospital, but they agreed to
arrange for the establishment of an institute
that offered pre-medical studies. Hjaltalin
considered that, although the establishment
of a medical school and hospital had been
denied, a measure of success had been
achieved by the fact that a program for pre-
medical studies had been approved. He
therefore took a positive view of the deci-
sion and did not pursue the matter further
for the time being. It meant essentially that
a facility for pre-medical studies would be
established locally, and that would likely
lead to the formation of a medical school
some time in the future. The king gave his
assent to this motion on May 28, 1863.
Eventually a medical school and hospi-
tal were approved by the Althing and rati-
fied by the King. It was the considered
opinion of the National Assembly that ade-
quate funding would be required if the
school was to succeed, so pending approval
by the King, a decision was made on May
10, 1867 to assist an initial five medical stu-
dents with grants of 400 Danish dollars
(800 kronar) annually, and that this finan-
cial assistance obliged each student to begin
his practice in an area of the country most
in need of medical services. The assistance