On 13 October, President Edgars Rinkēvičs met with Minister of Health Hosam Abu Meri at Riga Castle to discuss the priorities of the State budget of the Ministry of Health for 2024, the financial situation in health care institutions, palliative care issues, as well as reimbursable medicine pricing policy.
During the meeting, the President of Latvia expressed his conviction that quality and accessible healthcare is the basis for the public to feel safe and trust in the state. Therefore, it is particularly important that one of the priorities of the next year's budget is the health sector.
"The sector has been underfunded for a long time. For example, it is common in the second half of each year, the issue of hospitals not having sufficient financial resources to provide planned health services often comes up, and the situation is often critical in the regions. It is necessary to work to improve the long-term financing model of the health sector," E. Rinkēvičs stressed.
During the conversation, the President of Latvia also drew attention to a number of practical issues that have been raised both during the President's regional visits and during meetings with NGOs. For example, the critical situation in the field of reimbursable medicines, including for rare and incurable diseases, as well as the growing need to provide more accessible palliative care services.
