Instructions for the safe use of medicines in Northern Sámi

“Instructions for the safe use of medicines” is a guide for users on how to use medicines safely and on the use pharmacy services. The guide is available in Easy Finnish, Swedish, and English. 

Three summaries of the guide have been produced, which have now also been translated into Northern Sámi. 

• Safe use of medicines
• Reimbursements for medicines and using pharmacy services
• Buying medicines in Finland

The summary “Safe use of medicines” is a condensed version of the instructions in the guide. The summary “Reimbursements for medicines and using pharmacy services” is for persons who have a Finnish personal identity code and are therefore entitled to pharmaceutical reimbursements. The third summary, “Buying medicines in Finland” describes how persons without a Finnish personal identity code, such as refugees and asylum seekers, can get medications in Finland. 

Fimea has worked together with the wellbeing services county of Lapland and the Ivalo Pharmacy to check the Northern Sámi translations. Translations of the summary are available in several languages.

Every day is Medicines Day

Finnish National Medicines Day is a theme day for both users of medicines and health care professionals, which has been observed annually since 2012. The goal of the day is to encourage users of medicines to ask questions and talk about their medicines and their own pharmaceutical treatment.

Medicines Day is being held on Saturday, 14 March 2024 under the theme "Every day is Medicines Day".  Separate events will be held around the country by different entities or as cooperative efforts among local actors. Actors may include, for example, private pharmacies, patient organisations, social and health care professionals, as well as students and educational institutions in the field. 

The main event of Medicines Day will be the ‘Every day is Medicines Day’ webinar on Thursday 14 March 2024 from 13.00 to 15.15. The webinar is aimed at users of medicines and those close to them, professionals in the health and social care sector, and students in the field. It is being planned and organised by the National Medicines Information Network working group. The webinar is free of charge and is open to all; advance registration is not necessary. The webinar will be held in Finnish.

Read more: 

“Instructions for the safe use of medicines guide”; summaries, and their language versions  
Finnish National Medicines Day (in Finnish)
Information on medicines for the public  

Further information:

Riikka Vänskä, Chief Pharmacist,
Wellbeing Services County of Lapland, Tel. 040 149 1329 
Anne-Maria Pasma, Pharmacist (M.Sc),
Wellbeing Services County of Lapland, Tel. 040 713 2730
E-mail address format [email protected]

Päivi Kiviranta, Development Specialist, Tel. +358 29,522 3522
E-mail address format: [email protected]