The Saeima Social Affairs Committee in Latvia has unanimously voted to advance the Clinical University Hospital bill to the Saeima for further consideration, highlighting significant survival challenges for these health institutions. The committee's members acknowledged that the new legal framework is essential not merely for development, but for the very survival of these university hospitals, which underline their role in providing specialized healthcare rather than operating for profit.

The proposed changes aim to restructure the legal and governance forms of Latvia's three clinical university hospitals: the Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital (PSKUS), Children's Clinical University Hospital (BKUS), and Rīga East Clinical University Hospital (RAKUS). Under the proposed legislation, these hospitals would transition to being derived public persons, thereby becoming public institutions instead of state capital companies. Supporters of the bill argue that this change is fundamental to ensuring that these institutions can fulfill their primary mission of delivering high-level specialized healthcare without the pressure of profit generation.

This bill signifies a critical step towards addressing the operational difficulties faced by university hospitals in Latvia. It highlights ongoing discussions about the healthcare system's sustainability and the prioritization of public health outcomes over financial metrics. The success of this initiative could serve as a model for future reforms within the healthcare sector, ensuring that university hospitals can continue to provide essential services to the population without the constraints imposed by their current profit-oriented structure.