Five thousand more patients were referred to private hospitals for medical tests during the first half of 2014 than during whole of the previous year, reports Jyllands-Posten.
According to Dansk Regioner, Danish Regions' interest organisation, the number corresponds to a ten percent increase.
"This trend is a result of the government's promise to provide medical diagnosis within thirty days," the regional chairman Bent Hansen told the newspaper.
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"Sometimes it requires a lot of tests to establish a diagnosis, and since we have to respect the time-limit, we need to purchase some of these services privately," Hansen explained.
The organisation warns that if this trend continues it could have negative repercussions for the public health.
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"If private hospitals keep growing massively, it could mean that the regions, who have to pay for their services, would not have enough money to support some departments in the public hospitals or may lack competent medical personnel," Lars Engberg, the spokeperson for the Danish patients organisation, said to Jyllands-Posten.
