Healthcare in Latvia has been balancing on the edge for years – caught between patients’ needs, the burnout of medical professionals, and the realities of the state budget. The preparation of the 2026 budget highlights this even more starkly: the additional €651 million required to improve the system remains, for now, only on paper – not in reality.
Administrative savings, restructuring the hospital network, reducing bureaucracy – all of this matters, but it is not enough if the fundamental question remains unanswered: is healthcare in Latvia a real political priority, or merely a rhetorical one?
In neighboring countries, additional investments in healthcare are already delivering tangible results – better access and longer life expectancy. Latvia, too, must agree on how to use available resources wisely and seek new opportunities to strengthen the system for the long term. The solutions do not lie solely in the hands of the government – responsibility must also be shared with industry partners and society itself.
At a time when questions about the size and allocation of next year’s healthcare budget are being raised, the publishing house Dienas Bizness is organizing the conference
HEALTHCARE AT THE CROSSROADS OF THE BUDGET:
policy, resources, patient
bringing together industry representatives and opinion leaders for an open discussion with the aim of setting national funding priorities, identifying available resources, and finding possible solutions to today’s pressing challenges.
Conference time: 12 September 2025, 10:00–14:30
Conference venue: Riga Technical University Auditorium Building Domus Auditorialis, Zunda krastmala 8, Riga
Target audience: political leadership of the sector, decision-makers, senior officials from state administration and responsible institutions, executives and senior managers of healthcare and pharmaceutical institutions and companies, sector professionals and opinion leaders, researchers in health economics and public health, NGO representatives, and others.
Working language: Latvian and English (no interpretation will be provided)
Moderator: Inese Supe, journalist
Participation: is closed. Thank you par your interest!
Media representatives are kindly asked to register their participation by 11 September, 18:00.
More information about the conference:
Santa Butāne
Project Manager
📞 +371 26132470 | 📧 santa.butane@db.lv
09:00 – 10:00 Registration and morning coffee
10:00 – 10:10 Opening remarks
Inese Supe, Conference Moderator
10:10 – 10:35 Keynote Address: Priorities in Healthcare for 2026
Hosams Abu Meri, Minister of Health of the Republic of Latvia
10:35 – 11:00 Keynote Address: European perspective on medicine supply (topic to be confirmed) – presentation in English
Kasper Ernest, Director General, European Healthcare Distribution Association (GIRP)
Availability and supply of medicines in Latvia and Europe
11:00 – 11:45 Panel Discussion: Medicine supply and availability in Latvia – from reform to long-term access
Moderator: Kristīne Jučkoviča, Executive Director, Latvian Association of Pharmaceutical Care
Panelists:
11:45 – 12:30 Lunch and networking
Diagnostics and Outpatient Care
12:30 – 12:50 In cooperation with Roche: The importance of laboratory testing in healthcare (topic to be confirmed) – presentation in English
Thomas Höfer, General Manager, Roche Diagnostics Baltics
12:50 – 13:30 Panel Discussion: From diagnostics to treatment – how to improve continuity of patient care?
Moderator: Inese Supe, Journalist
Panelists:
Healthcare Financing Models and Priorities
13:30 – 13:50 Healthcare financing models and priorities
Boriss Kņigins, Deputy State Secretary for Financial Issues, Ministry of Health
13:50 – 14:30 Panel Discussion: Healthcare Financing Law – light at the end of the tunnel or the way out?
Moderator: Inese Supe, Journalist
Panelists:
14:30 Closing