On 27 April, Andra Levite met with the Minister of Health, Līga Meņģelsone. During the meeting, A. Levite discussed with the minister possible state support for the preservation of reproductive tissues for children with oncological diseases and actions for more effective control of cervical cancer in Latvia.
Every year, the Children's Clinical University Hospital has a number of cases where a patient's reproductive health is in danger - most often patients in the haemato-oncology department whose treatment may irreversibly damage their fertility. "The lives of these children are severely affected at least twice. First, receiving a diagnosis and overcoming it, and later, discovering that it is not possible to create offspring," A. Levite said, calling on the Ministry of Health to consider how the state could in future ensure the freezing and storage of tissues needed to preserve reproductive capacity, which is currently provided only by private medical institutions in Latvia. Liene Dambiņa, head of the Children's Hospital foundation, informed that about 15-20 children a year need such help if their parents agree to it.
Minister of Health L. Meņģelsone acknowledged that the provision of services by the state to preserve reproductive capacity would be an important signal about the fate of young patients, as well as in the context of demography. The Minister also sees the possibility of freezing and storing reproductive tissue in cooperation with the National Blood Donor Centre.
During the conversation, the spouse of the President also highlighted the issue of the need for more proactive action to limit cervical cancer. Andra Levite pointed out that this goal would be the easiest to achieve of all the goals set in the health sector, since the cause of the disease and the necessary preventive actions to detect the disease (vaccination against HPV and regular screening) are known. In order to increase the coverage of vaccination and screening, more modern, simple, and human communication should be considered, rather than just legal letters calling for screening, stressed A. Levite.
At the end of the meeting, Andra Levite and Līga Meņģelsone discussed the possible use of telemedicine solutions during pregnancy and the importance of implementing pilot projects in cooperation with foreign medical institutions in improving the overall health system and enriching the experience of young doctors.
Andra Levite welcomed the interest of the Ministry of Health in addressing the above-mentioned issues.
