State Audit: Child Healthcare in Latvia a Priority Only on Paper
A State Audit Office review finds that outpatient healthcare for children in Latvian regions remains hard to access, with long queues, high out-of-pocket costs and rigid funding rules. Fifteen recommendations have gone to the Health Ministry, but money for them is unlikely.
Child and pregnancy healthcare in Latvia is designated a priority in several laws and in the government's Mother and Child Health Improvement Plan 2025–2027, adopted in November 2025. In practice, families with children in the regions still face long queues and limited access. This is shown by the State Audit Office report “Children's healthcare – a lottery by place of residence” and by material gathered by the daily Latvijas Avīze and regional newspapers. Journalist Māra Libeka concludes that no change is expected next year.
What the State Audit Office found
In 2024, families paid about 14.5 million euros out of pocket for children's healthcare, while 93 million euros came from the state. The largest share of public money, 33 million euros, goes to children's dentistry; ophthalmology and physiotherapy are also in high demand.
The audit office has submitted 15 recommendations to the Health Ministry to improve preventive checks and access to services in the regions. The ministry has not yet calculated how much extra funding will be needed in 2027, but has promised to report regularly on implementation.
Queues for dentists and eye doctors
In Jelgava municipality, a private dental visit for a child means a three-week wait, and this year's quotas for state-funded visits have run out. At Bauska hospital, the state-funded queue for an eye doctor is reportedly about a year.
Aiga Švede, president of the Latvian Association of Optometrists and Opticians, says the country has 233 certified ophthalmologists and 219 optometrists, and argues that the quota system pushes ophthalmologists to see as many patients as possible. According to the National Health Service, no more than 50% of children attend the compulsory vision check at 13–24 months, and under 20% at age three and at six to seven. The audit office recommends involving optometrists more widely.
Funding allocation problems
Marika Jermaševiča of the Balvi and Gulbene Hospitals Association explains that children's program quotas were partly created by cutting adult programs, for example by about 900 episodes in adult neurology. Leftover children's neurology funding cannot be moved to areas that lack money.
In the audit office's check of the “rindapiearsta.lv” website, most contacted regional institutions listed as offering services for children do not provide them.
