Denmark’s new defence minister on sick leave to ‘unplug’

Denmark’s Defence Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Jakob Ellemann-Jensen on Monday said he was taking sick leave for an undetermined period, hardly two months after a new government took power.

The 49-year-old said he was admitted briefly to hospital last week for “nausea”, just after returning from Ukraine.

“I was eager to go back to work immediately. But now that it’s been a few days I have to realise I’m not ready for this,” he said on Facebook.  “I have been unusually busy for a long time. Now my body is sending me a signal that it’s time to take a break, if not it’s going to end badly,” he said.

“The bottom line is that, on the advice of my doctor, I need to unplug for a while and take leave. And then I will return when I’m ready.”

Economy Minister Troels Lund Poulsen will fill in for Ellemann-Jensen during his absence, the government said.

His absence comes as Danes protest against government plans to abolish a public holiday to help fund the defence budget amid the war in Ukraine.

Danish vocab: orlov – furlough/leave

Danish medicines authority recalls antibiotic used by 35,000 people

The Danish Medicines Agency, Lægemiddelstyrelsen, said on Monday that persons using the antibiotic medicine Dicillin, produced by Sandoz, should return it to pharmacies to be replaced.

The medicines authority issued the instructions in a press statement on Monday after multi-resistant bacteria known as CPO were detected in nine cases in patients who have taken the antibiotic.

The nine cases were detected over a four-month period.

Around 35,000 people in Denmark were prescribed the antibiotic between September and December last year, according to the Danish Patient Data Authority (Sundhedsdatastyrelsen).

Danish vocab: en tilbagekaldelse – a recall

Danish online store agrees long-awaited union deal with drivers

Danish online supermarket Nemlig.com has reached an agreement for working terms for its drivers with the trade union 3F Transport.

The two sides confirmed the new agreement in a statement on Monday.

Nemlig grew considerably as a business during the Covid-19 pandemic as large numbers of supermarket customers chose to have their groceries delivered instead of going to physical stores.

But the online supermarket has courted controversy over reports its parent company Intervare undepaid drivers.

Under the new agreement, Nemlig will be able to hire its own drivers. The company said in the statement that it will implement new terms for existing subcontracted drivers under the same conditions.

Danish vocab: en overenskomst – an agreement

Danish rail staff report high incidence of abuse at work

Staff on board Denmark’s trains are subjected to both physical and verbal abuse when at work, rail employees said in a survey.

In the survey, conducted by the trade union for rail workers Dansk Jernbaneforbund, one in five rail staff said they had received physical abuse at work at some point during the last three months.

Almost 80 percent meanwhile said they had received verbal abuse during the last three months.

Some 415 rail workers took part in the survey.

The abuse is most likely to occur when staff check the validity of passengers’ tickets.

Danish vocab: togansatte – rail workers