Approximately 9% of family doctors still haven’t signed the agreement on provision of services next year, said Latvian Minister of Health Hosams Abu Meri to LETA after meeting with Latvian Association of Family Physicians (LĢĀA).
According to him, as of the morning of 27th of December there were still 110 family doctors outside the service provision agreement. The majority of these doctors are from Riga. Family doctors are asked to sign the agreement by Friday, the 29th of December. If by then there is still someone who hasn’t signed it, the minister said it will be necessary to inform patients that no state funded patient care services will be provided by those doctors starting with the 1st of January.
“We will present information as to which family doctors will be practising and where. For two weeks we’ve been working on plans what we should do if someone doesn’t sign and where patients will be able to go. I hope we won’t have any doctors like that (those who don’t sign the agreement),” said Abu Meri.
The minister promised the government will decide on increasing state funding for family doctors in January.
It is also planned to continue efforts in the work group to create a report on improvements for primary healthcare in the next three to four years.
Still, the minister says the existing situation with family doctors was a result of an error in communication. According to him, from now on problems should be discussed directly, not through mass media. The minister invites family doctors to sign the agreement by the 29th of December, so that all residents in Latvia are able to receive the necessary healthcare services next year.
“The sector should trust the ministry [of health]. In the future things will be different, and I personally promise this,” stressed the minister.
LĢĀA President Alise Nicmane-Aišpure told LETA that she will inform members about the ministry’s position, so that the association can decide on future actions. At the same time, she said that from now on talk between the association and the ministry should be managed differently.
“This belief may not be rosy, because our experience is what it is. We have a work group that works on improving primary healthcare services so that our newest colleagues can come in and work, as well as to make sure family doctors can leave their practice to the next generation and retire. Generally speaking, a single family doctor should have a smaller number of patients to deal with than they’ve had until now. On top of that, it’s necessary to ensure the number is limited, because so far it hasn’t been,” said the association’s president.
LETA previously reported that at the end of the year family doctors’ agreement with the National Health Service (NVD) will expire. Nicmane-Aišpure noted that so far, not a single requirement of the association has been implemented, except for a small increase in salary, which is the same for all doctors in Latvia.
According to estimates from family doctors – this year their sector’s financing went down by 13%. There are justified concerns about family doctors’ ability to maintain their practice and continue providing services to their patients.
In the end the association agreed to sign a new agreement with NVD by the end of 2024: work four days a week for state pay and charge patients for services on the fifth.
On the 21st of December the association reported the decision to extend the existing agreement with NVD for two more months, because a promise was received from the government that a solution will be developed. NVD, however, mentioned that an agreement of this kind has not yet been reviewed.
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