Latvian health minister complains defamation after reported skipping line

Latvian Health Minister Guntis Belevics skipped line to get government-paid minor surgery at a state hospital triggered public outcry on Wednesday, according to Latvia's newspaper Latvijas avize, but the minister dismissed the report as defamation.

"I have used neither government-paid nor unpaid medical services at state hospitals," Belevics maintained in an interview with public radio today.

The minister admitted, however, that he had had two recent surgeries -- on May 30 and June 6 -- but that both of them were performed at a private clinic and not a state hospital.

The scandal was caused by a publication in Latvijas Avize daily, alleging that Belevics, who has pledged to significantly shorten the long waiting lines in Latvia's public healthcare facilities, might have skipped line to get minor surgery at the Latvian Oncology Center (LOC), which is part of Riga Eastern Clinical University Hospital.

In the interview with public radio this afternoon, Belevics claimed that the journalist who authored the article in question had been writing "slanderous stuff" about him for some time already and that Belevics had complained about him to the law enforcement authorities, but that no action had followed so far.

"I will talk to my lawyers. I am not going to leave it like that," the minister said, voicing suspicions that he is being targeted on someone's orders.

The Latvian Corruption Prevention Bureau said in the evening that they are launching an inquiry to look into the media reports of Belevics' surgery at the state hospital, and Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis also promised to make sure that this media report is properly investigated.

Both Kucinskis and President Raimonds Vejonis said they expected Belevics to provide exhaustive explanations about his medical treatment.

"The minister must dispel concerns about his conduct," said President Vejonis. Endit