From 1 August 2022 onward healthcare institutions in Latvia are to finance epidural anaesthesia from the state budget, including situations when the woman makes a request for anaesthesia herself. It is prohibited for this kind of anaesthesia to be provided as a paid service. The reason is because now it is paid for by the state, as reported by Ministry of Health.
«This year we provided separate and considerable financing towards child birth pain relief – more than EUR 1.3 million. No woman should be subjected to pain during child birth only because she cannot afford pain relief,» said Latvian Minister of Health Daniels Pavļuts.
The decision to not use pain relief for medical reasons (possible in rare cases) will be made by maternity hospital specialists or anaesthesiologists. At the same time, women will have the right to refuse epidural anaesthesia.
To put to rest any interpretations about the use of state funded epidural anaesthesia in accordance with medical indications (including interpretations about this year’s added indication – pain-induced panic), as of 1 August 2022 the list of medical indications for state funded epidural anaesthesia is cancelled.
When planning child birth, pregnant women are advised to ask in advance if a medical institution administers epidural anaesthesia.
If a medical institution is unable to provide state-funded epidural anaesthesia due to the shortage of anaesthesiologists, they are to inform patients of this before providing relevant medical services.
Other Baltic States provide state funding epidural anaesthesia in spite of a shortage of anaesthesiologists. The shortage of anaesthesiologists in this sector can be resolved by means other than narrowing down the number of recipients of this service, notes Ministry of Health. The ministry and National Health Service will work together to prevent cases when anaesthesiologists are not available to provide epidural anaesthesia due to excessive workload or other emergencies.
If after 1 August a pregnant woman is refused her request for state funded epidural anaesthesia and it is provided instead as a paid service, and if there are suspicions payment was requested unjustifiably, it will be possible to turn to the National Health Service with a request to look into this situation.
If examination of the patient’s medical history and the medical institution’s explanations reveals the woman had medical indications in favour of being provided with state funded anaesthesia, the medical institution will be ordered to pay back the unjustifiably charged fee.
Representatives from Riga Maternity Hospital, P.Stradins Clinical University Hospital, Vidzeme Hospital, Liepāja Regional Hospital, Latvian Association of Gynaecologists and Obstetricians and Latvian Association of Anaesthesiologists and Resuscitators also approve of use of state paid epidural anaesthesia.
State paid epidural anaesthesia is to be provided to socially insured residents of the Republic of Latvia eligible to receive state paid healthcare services.
Author of the initiative Simona Dilāne, who was the one who submitted the idea to manabalss.lv platform, previously said: «I am very proud and happy from the bottom of my heart that we have managed to achieve this result. I have to say the support we received was palpable. The speed at which we collected the necessary number of signatures was indicative of just how prominent this problem is in Latvia. I am happy our cry was heard and that women will now have a choice that is not based only on their financial capabilities.»