Apinis: Latvia’s Healthcare Ministry is intellectually weak

Pēteris Apinis, head of Latvian Association of Doctors, criticizing the reform plan, saying: «Just like the Napoleon cake has no Napoleon, the reform plan has no reforms.» He believes Healthcare Ministry’s intellectual potential declined in the past three to four years and that the institution in its current state is intellectually weak.

He also told Rīta panorama that most doctors are worried about the unclear reform and excessive bureaucracy.
 

Apinis says that results of a survey that interviewed more than 2,000 doctors shows that 81% of them are worried about the unclear future, excessive bureaucracy and lack of funding.
 

Also Apinis says that the time it takes for doctors to fill in different documents has increased by three hours in the past four years. According to him, this does not benefit patients at all.
 

He also told the programme that increased funding for the industry is an accomplishment by Anda Čakša. Still, before money reaches the places that require it the most, it will be torn apart by the pharmacology business. According to him, lobbies of the pharmacology business are actively tearing at the allocated funding from all sides. Apinis adds that wholesale traders of the pharmacology business visit the ministry every week, whereas LAB leader has not been invited in six weeks.
 

He believes the current attitude towards nurses, assistants and nursing professionals is catastrophic. There have already been cases when surgeries cannot take place because of the lack of nurses. If the situation does not change and medical personnel are not provided with sufficient money, there may be a situation when there will be no obstetrician to assist with child delivery. This is a problem that requires an immediate solution.

BNN/LETA

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