Balvu Hospital to End Maternity Care and Cut Pediatric Staff from September

From 1 September, Balvu Hospital in Latvia will no longer provide maternity assistance and will reduce its pediatric staff, the hospital’s board member Alīda Vāne said. The changes stem from a health‑ministerial reform backed by the government that will stop state funding for an overnight gynecologist at the facility, making it difficult to retain specialists. A single pediatrician will now cover both the admission and children’s wards, eliminating the separate specialist previously assigned to in‑patients.

Vāne described the situation as “tragic” because the Alūksne, Gulbene and Balvu region will be left without local maternity services; the nearest obstetrics department is in Rēzekne. The reform aims to restructure the national hospital network into three levels by 2029, concentrating complex care in larger hospitals while keeping basic services locally. The Balvu and Gulbene Hospital Union is 57.66 % owned by Medicīnas sabiedrība vadība (chairman Marģers Zeitmanis), with the remaining shares held by the Balvu and Gulbene municipalities. In 2024 the group reported revenue of €9.2 million and profit of €0.56 million.