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Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis announced the resignation of Health Minister Guntis Belevics on June 10, local media report.  Kucinskis informed the reporters that he had accepted Belevics' resignation after indications the minister had misled him about having special treatment for a minor skin complaint. Earlier media reports suggested that the minister had jumped the waiting line to get minor surgery.

Later, in a press conference to officially announce his resignation, Belevics apologized to Latvia's patients and Latvia's medics.

"But I want to be clear that I did not jump the lines, I was not a special patient and I did not use state health service facilities," he said, as quoted by LSM's English language service.

Belevics had repeatedly insisted he had received treatment at a private clinic and had not used his position to intentionally jump waiting lists to get treatment for a minor skin complaint, as alleged by the media reports.
However he did admit that the treatment he had received at a private clinic was heavily subsidized by the state and that he had undergone another procedure in a state clinic - but said his efforts to pay for it were waved away.