Financial Services, Health, Latvia, Medicine

The number of patients indebted to the hospital has exceeded 60,000.

In the first half of this year, patients failed to pay EUR 300,000 in total for the medical services received at the hospital, which manages to recover about EUR 130,000 a year from its debtors, the spokeswoman said.

Patients failed to pay EUR 600,000 to Eastern Hospital in 2015 and EUR 700,000 in 2014

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Potetinova said that the hospital’s administration is well aware of many patients’ tight financial situation and is therefore looking for compromise solutions. The administration, however, asks patients not to leave the hospital without resolving the payment issues, as the hospital allows patients to defer the payment of their bills or to pay them gradually.

The representative said that the non-paying patients included retired people, students and unemployed people, as well as patients with low income and socially disadvantaged people. The hospital also provides medical treatment to citizens of non-EU countries, of which only one in ten pay for the services.