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Maternity care & infertility treatment in Latvia

By Inese Timuka . 03.12.2009

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Childbirth is a life-changing experience for all women, and, depending on your wishes, the procedure could be done in an intimate setting or the more sterile atmosphere of a hospital.

Gallery: maternity

To find out what local experts can offer to women who may be considering a birth in Latvia, we visited best clinics in Riga and Jurmala.

A third of all births

There were 22,000 births in Latvia last year, and a full third of them took place at the Riga Maternity Hospital. This statistic was presented to us by Ilze Kreicberga, neonatal head of the biggest maternity hospital in Latvia, which offers a wide array of services related to pregnancy and delivery at the highest standards, ensuring the care of mothers’ and babies’ health. There are four delivery departments at the hospital, with around 70 doctors. Four gynecologists are available at all times, as well as an army of midwifes and anesthetists.
“The hospital offers to sign a private contract with a doctor or midwife, which means that at the delivery it is precisely they who will be there,” Ilze Lietuviete, the hospital’s chairman of the board, explained. “We can organize an excursion of our premises to potential patients and we can introduce them to the doctors and midwifes who are available.”
The use of technological procedures in birth such as epidurals for pain relief and Caesarean sections are available, even though these have long been a cauldron into which divisive and conflicting issues and opinions have been poured. But although it is the mother herself who takes the final decision, the most important factor is safety.
If the process of the pregnancy has been smooth usually there is no need to include the doctor in the delivery process, but if problems suddenly appear the doctor who is working at the time will step in.

“Around 30 percent of deliveries are family deliveries, where both partners are there. But the partner is not a necessary feature; the mother can take any person she trusts with her – a best friend or a relative,” said Assoc.professor Dace Rezeberga, the head gynecologist. The hospital offers individual courses in English for mothers-to-be. In two lectures, patients will be told about delivery, care for newborns and breastfeeding, as well as practical training about breathing.

Intimate care

Dr Plume, the owner of the Riga-based Family Center finds it essential “to increase safety and gain trust. It is necessary that women are introduced to the midwife, doctor, anesthesiologist and neonatal nurse, even if all of them will not be present at the delivery.”

The Family Center was opened in 1992 and since then it has been the only private maternity inpatient clinic in Riga, carrying out around 260 deliveries a year. “Our idea is to make the process of delivery as natural as possible, as the process itself those mothers who don’t want to give birth at home but want a homey atmosphere with all the necessary equipment. Every patient has her own room, with wooden furniture and the opportunity to order the food she prefers.”

The puerperal and gynecology department of the hospital in Jurmala is another popular place to give birth. It offers intimate service, but what is even more important is that it has gained the status of a Baby Friendly Hospital, an initiative by the World Health Organization and UNESCO, the main idea being to encourage more and more young mothers to exclusively breastfeed the baby at least until the age of six months.
Other options include giving birth in the same room the woman stays in during her spell at the hospital. The head gynecologist of the hospital, Jolanta Barbale, said: “This package includes an agreement with the doctor and midwife to remain in the room and provide epidural anesthetics if needed – all for 1,300 euros.”
We were told that patients who come here are mainly from Russia, as Jurmala has been known for a long time as a resort and health resort. And in many state clinics in Russia the level of comfort and service is
below average and many young mothers are not allowed to be together with their newborn babies, while the prices of private clinics are too high.
“We can offer a friendly attitude and a high level service for a good price,” Barbale emphasized. “Patients come in right before the procedure, arriving in Jurmala and staying at a hotel or rented apartment, of which there are many.”

Infertility is not the end

When you’re trying to get pregnant it can be extremely frustrating when, month after month, you’re not successful. Artificial insemination is the collective name given to a range of relatively simple procedures that increase the chances of conception. Dr Voldemars Lejins, founder of the EGV Clinic, is considered to be one of the leading gynecologists in Latvia who specializes in infertility diagnosis and treatment. “We join cells and make babies!” he said.

“Back in 1997, our first twins were born. We help those who previously thought they would never be able to have their own babies.”
Women must carry the baby, but it takes two to tango, Dr Lejins says. “We never start to work with a mother-to-be if her partner hasn’t checked in too.”
A third of his patients are foreigners, he adds. “We send to our patients a list of tests to be carried out prior to coming to Riga. Then we find the best scheme of treatment, which medications should be taken, and fix a date for the operation. Patients stay in Riga for around five days, after which they go back home and later inform me whether the operation was successful – if they are pregnant or not.”

He says that around 35 percent are successful, which is a large number for couples who had always been sure that they could never have children.
If possible, in the procedure they use the male partner’s own sperm in the artificial insemination process. In some instances, however, this is not possible and other sources of sperm are required. Thanks to artificial insemination, plenty of women are able to conceive without the need for intercourse or a permanent male partner. The EGV Clinic was the first sperm bank in Latvia. Dr Lejins says it is not a very popular service at the moment, but that it offers donor egg cells as well.

Safe and patient-friendly

Women who do decide to travel to Latvia to give birth should bring as much documentation as possible regarding their own medical history and the antenatal care that they have received during their pregnancies, as well as a copy of their passport. Medical documentation should include details of all tests made and scans carried out during the pregnancy plus any medications prescribed for the mother.
Women who plan to travel abroad to give birth should advise their doctors and midwives of this as early as possible so that all the required information can be collected before it is time to travel. It is highly recommended that women should be in contact with a doctor or clinic prior to leaving home so it’s known that they will be giving birth and can be put on the “schedule”.
All of the experts we spoke to stressed that it is necessary to know which vaccines should be given to the newborn. None of the clinics have direct agreements with international insurance companies, but they do fill out all of the required insurance documentation if necessary.
Without doubt, giving birth is an important moment in anyone’s life, and specialists in Latvia promise a high quality service for a good price. Most are bilingual and highly trained, guaranteeing safe and patientfriendly treatment.

Price comparison of procedure costs in Latvia and Norway
                                       Latvia price €  UK prices €  Norway price €
In vitro fertilisation (IVF)    1700             4000         2200
Intracytoplasmic sperm      2500             5400         3000
injection (ICSI)