Health minister fires head of drug control agency

Prague, Feb 22 (CTK) - Czech Health Minister Leos Heger has dismissed Martin Benes, director of the State Drug Control Institute (SUKL), as from yesterday, citing persisting differences of opinion on medicines policy and discords in the style of work, the ministry has told CTK.

The institute will be headed by Benes's deputy until a new head is appointed.

"I consider the SUKL director one of the key players in the system of Czech health care. That is why I have decided to fill it in based on an open tender. I will invite representatives of health insurance companies, the Czech Pharmacists' chamber, specialist societies and the academic community to the tender commission," Heger writes on the ministry's web page.

Heger did not specify the reasons of Benes's dismissal.

His dismissal may have been prompted by problems related to the central store of prescriptions and protection of patients' data, or delays in the revision of medicines prices and their coverage from health insurance.

SUKL was to carry out a revision of all medicines every year, but the first such overall revision took it four years.

Benes came to the head of SUKL in January 2007 as a winner of a competition for the post.

His predecessor Michal Sojka was dismissed by then health minister Tomas Julinek because he was appointed to the post without a tender.