Abstract
Latvia is one of Europe' s smallest countries and around 80% of its medical
device market is supplied by imports. This report is ideal for executives
wanting to understand the key drivers in the medical market and have access to
a wealth of statistical data, including five-year market projections. Included
with the report are 3 free quarterly updated outlook reports, enabling you to
keep up to date with market developments for a year.
Includes 3 quarterly updated outlook reports!
Latvia is one of Europe' s smallest countries, and faced a difficult transition
during the 1990s from being part of the USSR to developing a market economy.
Of the three Baltic republics, Latvia has the strongest ties to Russia; a
sizeable minority of the population is Russian, and the country has a high
level of dependency on Russia for energy supplies and other raw materials.
However, since the 1998 Russian economic crisis, tough government reforms have
led to an improved economic performance and impressive levels of GDP growth.
Latvia is now a full member of the EU, being admitted with the other nine
accession countries in May 2004. Latvian medical device legislation is
therefore in line with the relevant EU directives.
The healthcare system has undergone a number of reforms since independence.
The initial reforms of the early 1990s saw a wide degree of decentralisation.
This proved chaotic, and a firmer degree of central control is now in place.
The overriding problem for the healthcare system is funding; a system of
social insurance was envisaged but has never been introduced, with the result
that public healthcare is funded almost entirely from general taxation. As a
result, the public sector is able to provide only a strictly defined basket of
services; those deemed non-essential are either provided publicly for a fee,
or in the private sector. The private hospital sector is tiny, although many
clinic services, such as dentistry or cosmetic surgery, are provided
privately. Around 80% of the medical device market is supplied by imports.
Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands were the leading suppliers in recent
years, accounting for almost 50% of imports in 2004. Imports have increased in
value terms every year since 1994.
View Cart
