Latvia Health And Pharma Spending

Latvia's state budget will promote basic health care next year, reportsThe Baltic Times. An increasing amount of funding will be targeted at primary health care services, as well as providing free medicines to people in order to reduce the number of patients staying in hospital for long periods of time.

There are 163 pharmacies in Latvia. Drug supplies are said to be adequate, with a wide range of generic and brand-name medicines available to consumers. A 1996 survey of 60% of pharmacies and 80% of drug wholesalers found that 15% of all drugs on the home market come from domestic firms, of which Olaimfarm supplies 42%, Grindex 38% and Kalmciems 9%. Around 75% of Latvian pharmacies are supplied by firms in Germany, Poland, the USA, Hungary and France, but Latvian drugmakers export around two-thirds of their production to the Commonwealth of Independent States.