Stradiņš Hospital: Riga urgently needs another hospital

Dace Žentiņa, a board member of Paula Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital (PSKUS), said in an interview on Latvian Television’s “Rīta panorāma” that Riga requires either an additional emergency hospital or an institution that can care for patients who do not need top-tier medical services. She explained that the long queues seen last week at PSKUS’s Emergency Center were due to an unfortunate combination of high patient influx, with staff and bed capacity becoming insufficient.

Žentiņa emphasized that the problem is not limited to one hospital but requires a systemic solution involving both university hospitals, the Ministry of Health, the Riga municipality, and the Emergency Medical Service (NMPD). Both university hospitals have limited bed capacity and must simultaneously provide high-level services and emergency care for the entire Riga and Pierīga region. This leads to bottlenecks, and solutions have been sought for a long time.

Riga Mayor Viesturs Kleinbergs (P) recalled that problems with beds for chronic patients began after the closure of Riga 1st Hospital in 2009, which now operates as an outpatient clinic. He announced that a meeting of the Health Care Coordination Council will be held this week to discuss these issues. He also noted that healthcare accessibility depends on state funding, but the private sector is open to cooperation.

NMPD Director Liene Cipule stated that multiple ambulances waiting simultaneously at the hospital indicates the system’s insufficient crisis readiness. The inability of hospitals to admit patients in a timely manner endangers the entire emergency chain, delaying ambulances and reducing operational efficiency. NMPD has been proposing specific solutions for years, including a draft Cabinet regulation stipulating patient handover within 15 minutes. However, this initiative has not progressed.

PSKUS noted that the patient flow problems are not solely the fault of the Emergency Center but are related to overall hospital workload and bed availability. The hospital regularly cooperates with the Ministry of Health and NMPD to improve the situation, but long-term infrastructure development and system-wide collaboration are essential.