Maternity services to end at Balvi hospital

Balvi Hospital will stop providing maternity services from September 1, while the number of paediatricians will also be reduced, LSM reported, citing the LETA news agency. The changes were confirmed by Alīda Vāne, a board member of the Balvi and Gulbene Hospital Association.

Vāne said the changes were linked to a hospital network reform prepared by the Ministry of Health and supported by the government.

The hospital will no longer receive state funding for a round-the-clock gynaecologist from next year. As a result, it has become difficult to retain specialists in the field, who have already been difficult to attract to work in the border region.

A similar situation affects paediatric care. The hospital currently has two paediatricians, one working in the emergency department and another in the Children’s Department. From September, the duty paediatrician will work in both departments, meaning that inpatients will no longer have a separate treating doctor in the Children’s Department.

Vāne described the situation as tragic, saying that the region comprising Alūksne, Gulbene and Balvi would be left without maternity services. The nearest maternity ward will be at Rēzekne Hospital.

“The emptier the border region becomes, the easier it is for someone to enter it,” Vāne said.

She added that the hospital still lacked full clarity about its operations from next year. According to Vāne, discussions were continuing, while the Ministry of Health said that no services were being reduced but was simultaneously reporting that specific specialists would no longer be funded by the state.

The government approved the Ministry of Health’s hospital network reform on July 28. From next year, it envisages replacing the existing five hospital levels with three: local, regional and multi-profile hospitals. The reform is intended to concentrate more complex healthcare services in hospitals with suitable capacity while keeping basic services as close as possible to residents.