Health
In the EU, 90.1% of young people aged between 16 and 29 perceived themselves to be in good or very good health in 2022 according to new figures from Eurostat.
The Ministry of Health plans to allocate more than €30 million to improve access to reimbursable medicines this year, according to an information report from the Ministry. Patients' organizations say that while the amount seems impressive, it still does not cover the easily foreseeable and equally impressive deficit, Latvian Radio reports April 22.
A proposal by the Ministry of Health and medical experts to ban alcohol sales on the Internet did not win the support of the majority of the committee in charge on Wednesday, April 10. Instead, MPs agreed on a compromise that would exclude impulse purchases of alcoholic beverages over the Internet, Latvian Television reported on April 11.
Latvia has started a cross-border exchange of e-prescription data with certain countries, the National Health Service (NVD) said on March 20. E-prescription medicines can already be purchased in Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and Spain, and the number of these countries will gradually increase.
Latvia is committed to developing the export of healthcare services over the next three years, increasing the number of health tourists and returning doctors from abroad. This is foreseen in the Action Plan for the Development of Health Services Exports 2024-2027, which was approved by the Ministry of Health on Tuesday, March 19.
Healthcare and pharmaceutical industry organizations are urging Latvia to start work on the establishment of a National Medicines Reserve Fund immediately because there is a high risk that chronic patients will be left without the necessary medicines in various risk scenarios and crises, Latvian Radio reported March 4.
Professional organizations of Latvian medical practitioners call for increased responsibility for attacks on medical workers. An open letter signed by the industry's nine organizations and the Emergency Medical Service was sent to the interior, justice, and health ministers, Latvian Radio reported February 29.
The number of people needing technical aids for health reasons is growing year by year, but the state-paid service is sluggish. A viewer of Latvian Television' 4. studija turned to the broadcast with her issue – her mother suffered a stroke and had to wait three months for the equipment, 4. studija reported February 25.
Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Latvian hospitals and medical centers have so far helped around 240 wounded Ukrainian soldiers, of whom around 40 are currently receiving treatment, the charity project "M-Help", which helps bring injured Ukrainian soldiers to Latvia, told Latvian Radio February 24.