The Latvian Union of Health and Social Care Workers (LVSADA) has reported alarming news about possible staff reductions in the Emergency Medical Services (NMPD). Latvian media write about this.
According to the trade union, it is planned to lay off about 40 employees in the Latgale region. Those affected by the cuts will be offered jobs in other cities, such as Riga, but will have to pay their own travel costs.
LVSADA has already called on NMPD to comply with the 2023 collective bargaining agreement and not violate employee rights. At the same time, statements by NMPD management on LTV’s Panorama program that staff “will have to become more flexible” and that cuts will not affect the population raise doubts among the union. Reducing night crews and reducing the number of teams to two people entails the risk of delays in the provision of care and a deterioration in the quality of resuscitation.
According to international standards, high-quality resuscitation requires the participation of at least three people. Moving to a two-person team may compromise the quality of CPR. Chairman of LVSADA Valdis Keris stressed that the situation was the result of insufficient state funding for health care, which led to NMPD budget cuts and is now affecting staff and crews.
“It is logical to conclude that this will be followed by a further reduction in the population of Latgale. The question is, who benefits from this?” he remarked.
Against the backdrop of savings, the government has decided to cut the NMPD budget by 1.6 million euros next year. This means that in some regions, including Latgale, the number of night crews will be reduced, and the transition from three to two people per team will continue.
NMPD Chief Liene Onions explained that the changes will primarily affect employees who will have to adapt to new conditions. According to her, some of them will be offered other positions of equal value.
Source: www.gorod.lv
