The current Minister for Health is Sophie Løhde,[1] and the Permanent Secretary since 11 January 2021 is Svend Særkjær.

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

[citation needed] 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,[3] 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.

[4] In November 2016, under Lars Løkke Rasmussen's third government, it became a separate ministry once more.