Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital () is an outpatient and hospital health care service provider in

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

. This hospital also plays a role in

medical science Medicine is the science and practice of caring for patients, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pra ...

and

medical education Medical education is vocational education, education related to the practice of being a medical practitioner, including the initial training to become a physician (i.e., medical school and internship (medical), internship) and additional trainin ...

. It aims to become a science and a training center to residents and prospective doctors and currently is affiliated with two universities (

University of Latvia University of Latvia (, shortened ''LU'') is a public research university located in Riga, Latvia. The university was established in 1919. History The University of Latvia, initially named as the Higher School of Latvia () was founded on Se ...

and

Riga Stradiņš University Riga Stradiņš University (RSU) (, ) is a public university located in the city of Riga, Latvia. The name Stradiņš () in the university's title refers to the Stradiņš family, who have had a significant influence on the course of community ...

). It is named after

Pauls Stradiņš Pauls Stradiņš (17 January 1896 – 14 August 1958) was a Latvian professor, physician, and surgeon who founded the Museum of the History of Medicine in Riga. Early life Stradiņš was born in Eķengrāve () (now Viesīte, Jēkabpils Muni ...

History

Latvia's largest and most important hospital has changed its name eight times since 1910. It was called 2nd Riga City Hospital from 1910 until 1940, and has been the main

teaching hospital A teaching hospital or university hospital is a hospital or medical center that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities a ...

of the

since 1928. During the Soviet occupation in 1940–1941, it was called the National Clinical Hospital, and then during the

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

until 1944 it was called Riga Hospital. From

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

until 1948, it was called the National Clinical Hospital, then renamed the Republican Clinical Hospital until 1958 when the name was again changed to Pauls Stradiņš Republican Clinical Hospital. In 1993, the name was again changed to Pauls Stradiņš National Hospital, and in 1995 the name was changed to the Latvian Academy of Medicine Pauls Stradiņš Clinical Hospital. Finally it got its present name – Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital. However, since 1958 residents of Riga in daily life refer to the hospital by one simple word – ''Stradiņa''.Prof. Arnis Vīksna, Māris Pļaviņš/no grāmatas "Stradiņa slimnīca. Rakstu vainags deviņdesmitgadē.”, Rīga, 2000.gads.

Incidents

On 2 August 2013, at around 09:21 several

oxygen Oxygen is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group (periodic table), group in the periodic table, a highly reactivity (chemistry), reactive nonmetal (chemistry), non ...

gas cylinder A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel for storage and containment of gases at above atmospheric pressure. Gas storage cylinders may also be called ''bottles''. Inside the cylinder the stored contents may be in a state of compressed gas, vapor ov ...

s exploded in the basement of the

cardiology Cardiology () is the study of the heart. Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery di ...

wing's 32nd block, injuring two people. The explosions started a fire, which caused at least 10 more gas cylinders to explode. After the initial explosions an evacuation of the cardiology wing began, which resulted in the evacuation of 170 people. On 31 July 2019, a phone call was received by Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital regarding a planted bomb which caused the hospital’s administration to evacuate all patients and halt operations that day.

Expansion

The hospital opened the first section of a new wing in 2017. Block A stage one was constructed at a cost of €74,890,870, with €24,076,323 provided by the

European Regional Development Fund The European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) is one of the European Structural and Investment Funds allocated by the European Union. Its purpose is to transfer money from richer regions (not countries), and invest it in the infrastructure and se ...

. Initially, the second stage of construction was planned to be completed by 2023. However deadlines were extended till the end of 2026. The total cost of the project was estimated at EUR 156 million.Major hospital to lose millions of EU funding over missed deadlines
lsm.lv December 13, 2023

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pauls Stradins Clinical University Hospital Hospitals in Latvia Universities and colleges in Latvia Hospitals established in 1910 1910 establishments in Europe University of Latvia Buildings and structures in Riga Hospitals built in the Soviet Union