Latvian health minister steps down

Latvian Health Minister Guntis Belevics has tendered resignation to Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis, the prime minister told BNS.

Kucinskis has accepted the minister's resignation because the minister had admitted his lies earlier, following media reports that he had jumped the line to get minor surgery. Kucinskis condemned the health minister’s lies, saying that the minister had to admit his guilt.

The prime minister also said that a new minister should be found as soon as possible in order to ensure that the started reforms are continued. There are no candidates for the position yet. Until then Transport Minister Uldis Augulis will be the acting health minister.

Kucinskis believes that there had been a reason to turn to the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau about Belevics' activities as it had given a signal to Belevics that the truth will come out.

When asked whether Belevics could return to work in the parliament, Kucinskis said he believed that Belevics' political career was over.

Latvijas Avize daily reported on Friday that Belevics, who has vowed to reduce the long waiting lines for the government-paid medical services, might have jumped the line to get minor surgery this past May, even though Belevics himself claimed that he had used government-paid medical services several years ago.

Janis Zarzeckis, a surgeon at Adazi Private Hospital, told the daily that Belevics had had a surgery funded by the state on May 30 and June 6.

The daily earlier claimed that Belevics had jumped the line in the Latvian Oncology Centre in the Austrumu (Eastern) Hospital in Riga to get a surgery. Belevics commented that he had indeed had visited the Oncology Centre on May 25. However, the purpose of the visit was not for Belevics to undergo any medical procedures — he visited the centre as a minister and in order to find out more about reports implicating the centre's employees in corrupt practices. As for the surgery, he had it in Adazi Private Hospital, which can be proven by two receipts he was given for 90 euros in total.

The daily reported that actual prices of hand surgeries in Latvian private clinics are at least 240 euros or even up to 900 euros.

Viesturs Krumins, Head Physician of the Latvian Oncology Centre, has been suspended, sources told LETA.

Previously Krumins denied to LETA that Guntis Belevics had been a patient at the Oncology Centre. He said he could not disclose information about patients. He also denied that Belevics had undergone a surgery at the centre.

Belevics is not planning to relinquish his lawmaker's mandate for the time being. He told a press conference today that his actions could be assessed by the parliament's Mandate, Ethics and Submissions Committee.

Belevics was confirmed as health minister in the government of then prime minister Laimdota Straujuma in Nov. 2014. After Straujuma's government resigned in Feb. 2015, Belevics stayed on to work as the health minister in Kucinskis' government.

Belevics is also a parliament member and a member of the Latvian Greens Party (LZS) which is a part of the Greens and Farmers Union (ZZS).