Denmark’s health authority has called an extraordinary meeting after five surgeons left Rigshospitalet’s transplant department, affecting liver transplants and pancreatic cancer surgery.
Sundhedsstyrelsen, the Danish Health Authority, has concluded that three highly specialized hospital functions are affected by the current situation at Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen. That is according to reporting by DR on October 29, 2026.
In a written reply to DR Nyheder, the authority named the three functions as liver transplantation, surgery for cancer of the pancreas and transplantation of the pancreas. All three sit in the hospital’s Department of Transplantation and Digestive Diseases.
Three surgeons at the department were dismissed at the same time, and two more left within a short period, DR reports. Sundhedsstyrelsen had originally asked how the department could continue pancreatic cancer operations after the five departures.
Authority wants a new and more detailed plan
Region Hovedstaden, the regional authority that runs Rigshospitalet, submitted an account of the situation. Sundhedsstyrelsen was not satisfied with the answers and has asked the region for a more detailed report, according to DR.
The authority stated that it asked the region for a plan for how the specialist functions covering liver transplantation and pancreatic cancer will be handled going forward. It has also called an extraordinary meeting of its advisory committee for specialist planning, known in Danish as det rådgivende udvalg for specialeplanlægning.
The regional account shows that only a single surgeon currently holds the relevant qualifications for the department’s 182 annual operations for pancreatic cancer. As DR reported separately, the Danish Cancer Society, Kræftens Bekæmpelse, said it is strongly concerned about the situation.
TV 2 reported on October 26, 2026 that a crisis meeting in the region led to plans for an external review of earlier patient cases. The review covers previous liver transplants and advanced pancreatic cancer surgery at the department.
What the Rigshospitalet staffing crisis means for international patients
Anyone registered with a CPR number and a yellow health card has access to public hospital treatment on the same terms as Danish citizens. Treatment is organized by the five regions, and the way healthcare in Denmark works means patients do not choose their own surgical team. Region Hovedstaden covers the capital area and operates Rigshospitalet.
The functions named by Sundhedsstyrelsen are what Danish healthcare calls specialist functions, allocated through the national specialty plan. Liver transplantation, pancreatic transplantation and pancreatic cancer surgery are concentrated at a small number of hospitals, which is why a staffing gap at one department has national consequences.
For internationals living in the capital region, this means a referral for these specific procedures normally leads to Rigshospitalet, not to a hospital of the patient’s choosing. The authority has not announced any change to where these operations are carried out, and the region’s more detailed plan has not yet been published.
It is also not yet known what the external review described by TV 2 will cover in practice, or when its findings will be presented. DR has marked its report as being updated, and Sundhedsstyrelsen has not set out what will follow from the extraordinary meeting of the advisory committee.
