Earlier Health Minister Guntis Belēvičs (Greens/Farmers) had declared that he has lost his trust in the hospital's board chairman Dins Šmits. Ahead of any further action against Smits, the hospital's board chairman submitted his resignation.
Lācis said that he had been working to the best of his ability and had no desire to hear slanderous accusations of "non-transparent cash flows". He indicated that the Health Ministry's audit listed no significant financial risks of which the hospital had not known before.
The Health Ministry's State Secretary Solvita Zvidriņa told a press briefing that Šmits is being released from his position because "a number of things are unclear about the hospital's flow of finances, and due to problems with the construction of the new wing." Earlier this month the ministry's parliamentary liaison told the press that problems with real estate management and construction projects at the hospitals, as well as signs of near-insolvency at both the Stradiņš and Eastern Clinical University hospitals were behind the sudden rash of reshufflings of the institutional boards at these medical care facilities.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma expressed her disapproval of Minister Belēvičs' solution, alluding to a "rush job" in handling the situation.
