Karins to talk to Pabriks about Pabriks refusal to become acting health minister 2021-01-06 LETA/TBT Staff
RIGA - Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins (New Unity) will talk to Defense Minister Artis Pabriks (For Development/For) who has refused to stand in for the health minister after Karins demanded Health Minister Ilze Vinkele s (For Development/For) resignation; at the same time, Karins said that Pabriks was the most experienced politician in the For Development/For party.
In an interview with TV3, Karins said that usually after a minister resigns an acting minister is appointed from the same party. If there is a suggestion to change this, we can discuss it, he said.
Movement For to consider also nonpolitical candidates for health minister 2021-01-06 LETA/TBT Staff
RIGA - Movement For will consider also nonpolitical candidates for Latvia s next health minister, the party s board member Maija Golubeva told LETA.
The board of Movement For is due to meet this afternoon to discuss the situation after Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins (New Unity) demand for Health Minister Ilze Vinkele (For Development/For) to resign and to consider potential candidates that could be nominated for the vacant post.
Without naming any potential candidates, Golubeva said that the board members will be discussing both political and nonpolitical candidates , with a possibility to look for a strong representative of the health sector.
News in Brief
Latvia health minister fired over vaccine policy
Latvia s prime minister on Tuesday fired his health minister in a row over coronavirus vaccination policy, straining ties within the governing coalition. Krisjanis Karins said the Baltic state was struggling with the consequences of not having a clear and comprehensible plan of action . Latvia has focused its vaccination plan mainly on the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, which has so far not been authorised in the European Union. Health Minister Ilze Vinkele accepted the prime minister s request for her to step down but complained that she has been made a scapegoat for government s failure.
Health Ministry to assess necessity to restrict out-patient medical services 2020-12-28 LETA/TBT Staff
RIGA - The Health Ministry will assess the necessity to restrict provision of out-patient medical services in Latvia, said Health Minister Ilze Vinkele (For Development) in an interview with the Latvian public television today.
The decision might be made because of the large number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients and the restricted capacity of the health care sector.
The ministry will discuss the issue today, and might present it to the government on December 29.
She said that out-patient services might be restricted starting from n.
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A state of emergency was declared in the Latvian health system on Thursday as hospitals were struggling to cope with the high number of incoming COVID-19 patients, Health Ministry official Daina Murmane-Umbrasko said at a news conference.
The decision to declare the emergency was taken not by the government but a panel of health experts and heads of Latvia’s hospitals, the State Operative Medical Commission, in order to expand the powers of hospital administrations, authorizing them to reorganize the medical institutions so that they can take in more patients.
The state of emergency in the health sector means that medical institutions will have more freedom in managing their resources. Hospital staff that normally do not handle infectious disease patients can now be involved in treating COVID-19 patients and medical workers on vacation can be recalled to stand in for colleagues who are sick or in quarantine.