NVD: Closure of Family Wards at Riga Maternity Hospital Not Linked to State Funding
The National Health Service says reports that family wards at the Riga Maternity Hospital are being closed due to cuts in state funding are misleading, as the service has never been financed from the state budget.
Recent public reports claimed that the Riga Maternity Hospital had temporarily suspended operations on its sixth floor because of reduced state funding. The National Health Service (NVD) has responded that such claims create a misleading impression about how state financing affects the availability of family wards.
According to the NVD, the family wards on the sixth floor are a paid service and have not been funded from the state budget either previously or now. It is therefore incorrect to link this service to changes in state funding, as those changes do not affect the provision of family wards. Decisions on how to organise paid services, including maintaining family wards, are made by the healthcare institution itself, based on patient demand, available staff and economic considerations. Since the family wards are a paid service, their upkeep is covered by revenue generated from the service.
The hospital itself has said that the sixth floor is being temporarily closed this summer because of limited staff availability, and that the family ward service has not been discontinued — it remains available on the third and fourth floors.
The NVD adds that if a future political decision were made to finance family wards from the state budget, the fiscal impact would need to be assessed and a sustainable funding source secured. However, overall funding for healthcare is limited, and the current priority is to ensure state-paid services, including emergency medical care and other essential services. Therefore, no funds are currently available in the health budget to launch a new state-paid service.
