Laidze residents seek solution as family doctor clinic closes
Wednesday 28th October 2026 on 14:31 in
Latvia
A family doctor’s reception office in Laidze parish, Talsi municipality, is due to close as Dr Vita Norenberga ends her practice, prompting residents to ask local authorities to preserve medical services there, LSM reported.
From November, patients are being asked to register with another family doctor. The Laidze residents’ council said patients who have not chosen a new doctor by November 1 will be transferred to Dr Alise Ralle’s practice in Dundaga. It urged residents to look for doctors closer to home who still have places available.
Laidze village is about 40 kilometres from Dundaga and less than 10 kilometres from Talsi. Ralle’s practice is currently based only in Dundaga, and the date when a branch might open in Talsi is not yet known, the residents’ council said.
At residents’ request, the council contacted Talsi municipality, the Kurzeme branch of the National Health Service and the Valdemārpils administration, asking them to find a way to maintain a doctor’s services in the parish.
Valdemārpils administration head Solveiga Stalidzāne told the LETA news agency that there had initially been information that another doctor would take over Norenberga’s practice in Laidze when she retired. She said it was difficult to say why that plan did not go ahead. The residents’ council said a doctor who had initially shown interest later withdrew and did not consider seeing patients in Laidze.
Norenberga is retiring and has been seeing patients at three locations: Laidze, Pūņas in Valdgale parish and Talsi. In a letter cited by the residents’ council, the National Health Service said it had received her request to close the practice from November 10. Patients who have not chosen another doctor by then will be transferred to Ralle, though they remain free to register with a different family doctor under the established procedure.
The service confirmed that the additional reception office in Laidze would close, but said this did not mean patients would lose access to state-funded family doctor services.