Family doctor warns underfunding will mean longer queues and more paid healthcare in Latvia
Līga Kozlovska, a board member of the Latvian Rural Family Doctors' Association, says healthcare needs stable, long-term funding. Otherwise, she warns, patients will face longer waiting lists and a growing role for paid medicine.
If the state keeps underfunding healthcare in Latvia, patients should expect even longer waiting times for publicly funded services and an increasingly prominent role for private, paid medicine. That was the warning from Līga Kozlovska, a family doctor and board member of the Latvian Rural Family Doctors' Association, on the TV24 programme "Uz līnijas".
In her view, healthcare is not a high enough priority on the government's agenda, and the funding question is still not being addressed systematically. She argued that the sector needs regular and stable financing, rather than a situation where extra money for specific needs is granted at the last minute or by reallocating budget funds. As examples she cited additional funding for reimbursed medicines and other urgent needs, including the treatment of cancer patients. She does not consider such an approach normal, since healthcare needs must be planned over the long term.
The 6.1% of GDP target
Kozlovska stressed that one of the key goals is to reach healthcare funding of 6.1% of gross domestic product (GDP). She believes this should not be postponed until 2027 but pursued as soon as possible.
The doctor noted that the funding level discussed in Ministry of Health working groups, about 1.9 billion euros a year, would put healthcare spending below 4% of GDP rather than near the intended 6%. She also said an extra 860 million euros would be needed next year for Latvia to come closer to the funding levels of its neighbouring countries.
A warning to patients
Otherwise, in Kozlovska's view, waiting lists for state-funded services will grow longer and the role of paid medicine will keep expanding. "Paid medicine will develop more and more, and those who can afford to pay will survive," she said.
She believes it is not enough to cover individual areas' needs by occasionally granting extra funds to oncology, reimbursed medicines, or rare and heart diseases. What is needed is a stable, long-term planned financing system, so that access to treatment does not depend on how thick a patient's wallet is.
