Latvia’s Minister of Health, Hossam Abu Meri, confirmed on Wednesday, February 21, that the country is interested in the development of health tourism by offering services to the Principality’s residents at Latvian medical institutions, as there is “still a great potential for development in this area.”

The Latvian Health Ministry told the Latvian news agency LETA that Abu Meri met with the Honorary Consul of the Principality of Monaco in Latvia, attorney-at-law Maris Grudulis, to discuss the possibilities of strengthening and developing cooperation between the two small states in the future.

The honorary consul is said to have noted that Monaco is currently experiencing a shortage of doctors and wants to attract them from European Union countries, and that Latvian doctors are highly appreciated in the Principality.

This is not the first meeting between the two countries on the topic of health workforce, as a conference entitled ‘Latvia meets Monaco: Obstetrics and Gynecology’ was held in Monaco in 2017.

Latvia and Monaco are both members of the World Health Organisation’s Small Countries Initiative, a network of countries within the WHO European Region with two million or fewer inhabitants. A meeting of the SCI is expected to be held in Cyprus in April, in which health workforce will certainly be a hot topic.

FILE PHOTO: Riga cityscape Reuters