A few days ago, a relative of Latvian Radio producer Evija Unāma appealed to the public. A medical consortium has prescribed further treatment with a drug that is state-funded for ovarian cancer patients, but not for breast cancer patients. She has also been refused individual reimbursement by the state. She needs more than €4,000 every month and €56,000 for a year-long course. In Evija's case, the public response has been swift.
Rūta Dimanta, head of the charity "Ziedot.lv", said that last year 83 patients asked for public support in cancer treatment, and this year 95. Dimanta has noticed that, on the one hand, the situation is improving and more and more medicines are being reimbursed, but on the other hand, there is still great injustice.
"There are patients who are reimbursed and patients who are not. Even when breast cancer patients are lying in the same ward, one is paid and the other is not, because there are different mutations. This is an internal injustice that I do not understand and that the state has to address," said Dimanta.
Gunita Berķe, head of the oncology patient support association "Dzīvības koks", said the situation is bleak compared to other countries.
"This is not normal. If a panel of doctors says that this medicine helps, how can officials work out which is the greater benefit - a person who lives and believes in his country, or the money that will be spent anyway?" Berķe said.
The National Health Service (NVD) decides on the allocation of money for the treatment of patients. Due to lack of time, the expert could not tell Latvian Television in an interview how the money is decided. In a written answer, the expert, who did not reveal her name, said that everything comes down to a lack of finances:
"Improving access to new innovative drugs in oncology is one of the priorities. However, the current budget of the reimbursement system is not sufficient to cover the growing number of patients with medicines already on the reimbursement list, nor to cover all the needs of the reimbursement system."
Health Minister Hosams Abu Meri (New Unity) said that this year €15 million is earmarked for reimbursable medicines and that the money for medicines is planned to increase every year:
"I try not to politically influence the issue of supporting a particular patient and the medicines they need, because there are criteria. The NVD committee with the manufacturer assesses each diagnosis."
The ministry will ask for additional funding for reimbursable medicines when preparing next year's draft budget.
Meanwhile, Dimanta has observed that patients who are already in despair when they receive a diagnosis are even more confused by unclearly written refusals from civil servants.
"When a person is ill, they receive a two- or three-page letter written by a civil servant, saying that on the one hand, they should be helped, but on the other hand they should not. When you read it, you don't really understand if you are important as a person. The letters are so convoluted and impersonal... Often people come and say, help us read it, we don't understand."
