Hospitals in Estonia lack interpreters. At the same time, a survey conducted by the Estonian Medical Students' Association, the Estonian Junior Doctors' Association, and the Nursing Students' Society shows that language barriers are a problem for every third healthcare worker.

Understanding the patient and organizing treatment becomes difficult, as the role of interpreter often falls to the patient's spouse, a colleague, or even ChatGPT.

A survey, conducted at the end of 2024 and involving 2,389 healthcare workers, highlighted that language barriers directly impact both work organization and patient care.

One in three respondents had experienced a situation where language problems hindered understanding the patient.

Nearly half of doctors said they relied on help from a colleague, a patient's family member, or translation tools such as Google Translate or ChatGPT.

The highest number of foreign-language patients were found in Tallinn hospitals. In pediatric and women's clinics, several respondents described cases in which all communication with the patient occurred through a spouse.

In some cases, it was noted that this could affect patient safety and confidentiality, for example, in suspected domestic violence situations.

"If the patient and the healthcare worker do not share a common language, then the transmission of information, diagnosis, and treatment outcome all suffer. Often, more tests must be conducted and colleagues involved, which wastes time and increases costs," said Anette Remmelg, a member of the EAÜS foreign language project team.

Johanna Rõigas, an internal medicine doctor and member of the Estonian Junior Doctors' Association, added that placing the burden of finding a translator on the patient can deepen inequality.

"In practice, this means that an elderly Russian-speaking patient living alone has to find a translator themselves, or else go without help," she said.

According to the survey, one in five healthcare workers has had to cancel or postpone an appointment due to a language barrier.

Earlier studies have also shown that a language barrier can extend an appointment by up to 30 minutes. Each day in the hospital costs the Estonian Health Insurance Fund up to €1,606.

Chancellor of Justice Ülle Madise has pointed out that the law does not require a healthcare provider to offer services in a foreign language, except in the case of emergency care. If a person comes for a scheduled appointment and does not speak Estonian and has no interpreter, the doctor may refuse to provide the service.

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