Latvian Trade Union of Health and Social Care Workers (LVSADA) is still unhappy with the volume of funding that has been allocated towards healthcare.
This time the trade unions points to New Unity’s talks about the healthcare policy organised on the 6th of July.
The trade union claims what Minister of Finance Arvils Ašeradens said after the meeting,
that Latvia has reached the minimal financing level recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO) – 12% of the state budget’s costs – is not true.
LVSADA coordinator Inga Rudzīte told the media that
in accordance with WHO experts’ recommendations the national healthcare financing needs to reach at least 12% of general government expenditures.
LVSADA estimates that Latvia’s healthcare sector’s budget is at only 9.6% of the government’s expenditures.
“Estimating the percentage of the consolidated budget of EUR 14.7 billion, we can clearly see EUR 1.8 billion is slightly over 12% of this amount, but it does not meet WHO recommendations,” the trade union claims.
LVSADA estimates that for Latvia to reach the recommended healthcare funding amount, it is necessary to allocate an additional EUR 450 million.
As previously reported, on the 20th of June Latvia’s government agreed to allocate an additional EUR 140 million towards healthcare on top of the already increased budget funding.
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