# Ministry of Health (Denmark)

The Danish Ministry of Health (Danish: Sundhedsministeriet) is a Danish governmental ministry responsible for healthcare policy in Denmark. First created as an independent ministry in 1926, it has at various times been combined with the Ministry of the Interior as the Ministry of Interior and Health, most recently in 2022-, and has had various names. The current Minister for Health is Sophie Løhde, and the Permanent Secretary since 11 January 2021 is Svend Særkjær.

## Responsibilities

The ministry oversees all aspects of healthcare in Denmark, including hospitals, medical treatments, dispensaries, patient rights, healthcare data collection and medical and research ethics.

## History

The ministry was first created in 1926, and since then has several times been merged with the Ministry of the Interior and re-established under various official names. In modern times it was first re-established in September 1987, with responsibilities drawn in part from other ministries, including oversight over foodstuffs, anti-narcotics and anti-alcohol efforts, education of medical personnel, and health care in Greenland—some of these were later reassigned—and was recombined with the Ministry of the Interior in November 2001. In November 2007 it again became an independent ministry under the name Ministerium for Sundhed og Forebyggelse (English: Ministry for Health and Prevention), taking on some responsibilities from the Family Ministry, which was dissolved; the Ministry of the Interior, in turn, was merged into a new Ministry of Welfare (Velfærdsministerium). In 2010 the combined Ministry of Interior and Health was again reconstituted, but the following year the Ministry of the Interior was included in a new Ministry of the Economy and the Interior [da] while the Ministry of Health once more became the Ministry for Health and Prevention. In June 2015 it was renamed the Ministry of Health and the Aged, and acquired some responsibilities from the Social- og Indenrigsministeriet (Ministry of Social affairs and the Interior), the combination of the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior which was created at the same time. In November 2016, under Lars Løkke Rasmussen's third government, it became a separate ministry once more.

### List of ministers

| No. | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) | Term | Term | Term | Political Party | Government | Ref |
| No. | Portrait | Name (Born-Died) | Took office | Left office | Duration | Political Party | Government | Ref |
| Minister of Health Services (Minister for Sundhedsvæsenet) |||||||||
| 1 | | Viktor Rubow [da] (1871–1929) | 14 December 1926 | 30 April 1929 | 2 years, 137 days | Venstre | Madsen-Mygdal Cabinet | |
| Minister of Development and Health Affairs (Minister for Byggeri og Sundhedsvæsen) |||||||||
| 2 | | Johannes Kjærbøl (1885–1973) | 13 November 1947 | 23 November 1947 | 10 days | Social Democrats | Hedtoft I Cabinet | |
| Minister of Health (Sundhedsminister) |||||||||
| 3 | | Agnete Laustsen (1935–2018) | 10 September 1987 | 3 June 1988 | 267 days | Conservatives | Schlüter II Cabinet | – |
| 4 | | Elsebeth Kock-Petersen (born 1949) | 3 June 1988 | 7 December 1989 | 1 year, 187 days | Venstre | Schlüter III Cabinet | – |
| 5 | | Ester Larsen (1936–2025) | 7 December 1989 | 25 January 1993 | 3 years, 49 days | Venstre | Schlüter III Cabinet–IV | – |
| 6 | | Torben Lund (born 1950) | 25 January 1993 | 27 September 1994 | 1 year, 245 days | Social Democrats | Poul Nyrup Rasmussen I Cabinet | – |
| 7 | | Yvonne Herløv Andersen (born 1942) | 27 September 1994 | 30 December 1996 | 2 years, 94 days | Centre Democrats | Poul Nyrup Rasmussen II Cabinet | – |
| 8 | | Birte Weiss (born 1941) (Also served as Minister of the Interior) | 30 December 1996 | 23 March 1998 | 1 year, 83 days | Social Democrats | Poul Nyrup Rasmussen III Cabinet | – |
| 9 | | Carsten Koch (born 1945) | 23 March 1998 | 23 February 2000 | 1 year, 337 days | Social Democrats | Poul Nyrup Rasmussen IV Cabinet | – |
| 10 | | Sonja Mikkelsen (born 1955) | 23 February 2000 | 21 December 2000 | 302 days | Social Democrats | Poul Nyrup Rasmussen IV Cabinet | – |
| 11 | | Arne Rolighed (born 1947) | 21 December 2000 | 27 November 2001 | 341 days | Social Democrats | Poul Nyrup Rasmussen IV Cabinet | – |
| Minister of the Interior and Health (Indenrigs- og sundhedsminister) |||||||||
| 12 | | Lars Løkke Rasmussen (born 1964) | 27 November 2001 | 23 November 2007 | 5 years, 361 days | Venstre | Anders Fogh Rasmussen I Cabinet–II | – |
| Minister of Health and Prevention (Minister for sundhed og forebyggelse) |||||||||
| 13 | | Jakob Axel Nielsen (born 1967) | 23 November 2007 | 23 February 2010 | 2 years, 92 days | Conservatives | Anders Fogh Rasmussen III Cabinet Lars Løkke Rasmussen I Cabinet | – |
| Minister of the Interior and Health (Indenrigs- og sundhedsminister) |||||||||
| 14 | | Bertel Haarder (born 1944) | 23 February 2010 | 3 October 2011 | 1 year, 222 days | Venstre | Lars Løkke Rasmussen I Cabinet | – |
| Minister of Health and Prevention (Minister for sundhed og forebyggelse) |||||||||
| 15 | | Astrid Krag (born 1982) | 3 October 2011 | 30 January 2014 | 2 years, 119 days | SF | Thorning-Schmidt I Cabinet | – |
| 16 | | Nick Hækkerup (born 1968) | 3 February 2014 | 28 June 2015 | 1 year, 145 days | Social Democrats | Thorning-Schmidt II Cabinet | – |
| Minister of Health and Elderly Affairs (Sundheds- og ældreminister) |||||||||
| 17 | | Sophie Løhde (born 1983) | 28 June 2015 | 28 November 2016 | 1 year, 153 days | Venstre | Lars Løkke Rasmussen II Cabinet | |
| Minister of Health (Sundhedsminister) |||||||||
| 18 | | Ellen Trane Nørby (born 1980) | 28 November 2016 | 27 June 2019 | 2 years, 211 days | Venstre | Lars Løkke Rasmussen III Cabinet | |
| Minister of Health and Elderly Affairs (Sundheds- og ældreminister) |||||||||
| 19 | | Magnus Heunicke (born 1975) | 27 June 2019 | 15 December 2022 | 3 years, 171 days | Social Democrats | Frederiksen I Cabinet | |
| Minister of the Interior and Health (Indenrigs- og sundhedsminister) |||||||||
| (17) | | Sophie Løhde (born 1983) | 15 December 2022 | Incumbent | 2 years, 36 days | Venstre | Frederiksen II Cabinet |