Swedes, not Latvians may get Latvian medical care

Just days after Latvia cut off funding for so-called endoprosthetic operations (hip, knee and other joint replacements), the new Minister of Health Baiba Rozentāle said Latvia could offer surgical and medical services to Sweden in order to reduce queues for elective or planned surgery. Rozentāle said in an interview with the Latvian daily Diena that selling medical services to Sweden would be one way to increase revenues for the Latvian health care system

If implemented, the scheme would mean that Swedes, who are entitled to elective surgery such as hip replacements, could get the surgery done more quickly in Latvia and financed by Sweden's national health service, while Latvians with identical medical conditions would one have private care available. In many cases this would mean that poor, older Latvians would go untreated and, in some cases, end their lives bedridden rather than mobile and healthy after a joint replacement.

The bizarre aspect here is that one would see Sweden's publicly financed medicine become slightly more efficient by buying services in Latvia, while Latvia's once public-financed medical care is essentially being dismantled by budget cuts, leaving local patients with no alternative but medical care paid out of pocket.

In any other context, the export of medical services would be laudable, but it is more than ironic that Latvia hopes to earn money by replacing Swedish hips while cutting funds and allowing its own citizens and residents who cannot afford private operations to spend the rest of their lives as invalids.