President to meet with relevant officials to discuss insufficient funding for oncology patients' medicines

RIGA - President Edgars Rinkevics is planning to meet with the relevant officials to discuss funding for medicines for oncology patients, the president's advisor Martins Dregeris told LETA.

According to Dregeris, the president will review in detail an open letter from the oncology patients' support group Palidzesim Viens Otram (Help Each Other), which is calling for an additional EUR 150 million to be allocated from the state budget in order to include 80 medications vital for oncology patients on the list of reimbursable medicines.

The letter emphasizes that around 7,000 patients are waiting for these medicines, and points out that every year dozens of people turn to charities for help in order to buy innovative medicines prescribed by physicians.

The letter explains that these medicines may cost thousands of euros and are unaffordable for Latvian families. The National Health Service, however, refuses individual reimbursement to some patients on the basis of Cabinet regulations. The maximum compensation amount is currently EUR 30,000 per year. The letter points out that this amount is often not enough as innovative medicines cost more.

"It is regrettable to note that an unacceptable system has been developed in the country, in which saving people's lives has largely been shifted onto society's shoulders. Patients are advised at physicians' practices to timely seek support from charities," says the letter.

The letter says that in the first three months of this year, more than 47 oncology patients who have been refused individual reimbursement by the National Health Service, and whose medicines are not included in the list of reimbursable medicines, have asked Latvian charities for help. In total, more than EUR 2 million is needed to help all these people.

The letter urges the president to use his constitutional authority and public influence to call for an urgent political action in order to allocate an additional EUR 150 million from the state budget so that 80 medicines vital for oncology patients could be included on the list of reimbursable medicines.