On Thursday, January 19, Health Minister Līga MenĆgelsone met with the Deputy Permanent Representative of the Republic of Latvia to the European Union (EU), Ambassador Mārtiņas Kreitas during a familiarization visit and discussed current issues in the field of health that are being addressed at the EU level.
During the conversation, the minister emphasized the important issue not only for Latvia, but also for other EU member states, regarding the need to revise the contracts with manufacturers for vaccine supplies against Covid-19.
“Negotiations on changes to the terms of the agreement are to be resolved at the level of the European Commission and individual member states cannot influence them. Aware of the producers’ interest in not losing the payment provided for in the contracts by the member states, it would be essential to reach an agreement with the producers either on the extension of the delivery period or to agree on other, for example, the supply of innovative oncology medicines, which are so necessary to save lives,” said L. Menľelsone.
During the meeting, EU Ambassador Mārtiņš Kreitus also noted the upcoming meetings of the Council of Health Ministers of the European Union, which will take place this year. March 14 in Brussels and June 13 in Luxembourg. In these formats, it is planned to discuss the availability of medicines and medical devices, the regulation on the European health data space, etc. questions.
