The health system in Latvia faces a shortage of workforce in numerous health professions: assistant physicians, midwives, doctors of certain specialties, and especially family doctors. The number of physicians was just below the EU average in 2021, at 3.4 per 1000 population. At the same time, the density of nurses was 4.2 per 1000 population – less than half the EU average of 8.5 per 1000. This limits the availability of healthcare services to citizens and threatens the success of healthcare reforms. The shortage of healthcare professionals is worsening due to the growing demand for health services and the simultaneous shrinking and ageing of the healthcare workforce, with many workers reaching retirement age.
The Ministry of Health is therefore launching a new project, funded by the European Union (EU), to attract medical personnel to jobs in the public health care sector. The support measure continues the “Doctors in the Countryside” and “Nurses in Riga” projects, which recruited 1,792 medical personnel for the provision of state-funded health services.
The aim of the new project is to increase the employment of medical personnel for the provision of state-funded healthcare services, especially in hospitals and family doctors’ practices, whilst also addressing the generational shift in the health workforce and recruit younger workers, in particular. The plan is to attract more than 450 specialists to work in the public sector by the end of 2029, via one-time financial compensations.
The project has a total budget of EUR 6,690,300, including EUR 5,686,755 from the European Social Fund Plus and an additional co-financing of EUR 1,003,545 from the state budget.
The following applicants can be entitled to the monetary compensation:
- The compensation application is available to those who have not worked in a state-funded medical institution in Latvia within the past 12 months. This condition aims to attract new and young doctors, as well as those who are not currently working in the profession, and to encourage former emigrants to return to the industry.
- Those eligible for the incentive specialties include family doctors, dentists, nurses, physicians’ assistants, midwives, physical therapists, occupational therapists, dental hygienists, audiologists and art therapists. Nursing and dental assistants are also entitled to apply for the bonus.
- The one-time compensations are also intended for a family doctor of retirement age who transfers their practice to a new family doctor and helps them set up.
One-time monetary payments will be as follows: EUR 16,000 for a doctor; EUR 11,000 for a doctor’s assistant, nurse, midwife, physiotherapist and other specialists; EUR 9,500 for a nurse’s assistant; and EUR 5,000 for a family doctor who is willing to transfer their practice to a new colleague. Upon receiving funding, a health professional must work in the public sector for a certain period of time: three years.
The Ministry of Health has also committed to developing a human resources plan, which will incorporate a rise in state budget funding to allow for salary increases.