Number of Czech out-patient specialists almost biggest in OECD

Prague, March 1 (CTK) - The Czech Republic has the second biggest number of out-patient specialists per capita after Greece within the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), it ensues from a document that CTK has gained from the Health Ministry.

The OECD has 34 members, including the world's economically most advanced countries.

It also ensues from the document that the nmber of out-patient specialists has long been growing while the numbers of dentists and general practitioners have been about the same.

Health Minister Leos Heger, however, does not plan any radical steps saying the number of physicians will decrease naturally as they will be retiring.

Greece has 1.8 out-patient specialists per 1000 inhabitants while the Czech Republic has 1.4 specialists.

The OECD figures also show that Czechs visit out-patient specialists twice more frequently than the EU average of five to seven visits per year.

Heger told CTK that he believes doctors invite patients too frequently, which may be a hangover from the past when people went to see their doctors with every twinge of pain and they are not accustomed to educating themselves in care of their own health, Heger said.

He also said the doctors' network is too dense.

Deputy Health Minister Petr Nosek said the sector of out-patient specialists may already be saturated and that possible financial problems of some practices may be caused by too a big competition in the particular specialisation in a given territory.

The Czech Doctors' Chamber (CLK) staged Friday a protest aimed to warn of a threat to the extent of care by out-patient specialists.

CLK head Milan Kubek, who is an out-patient specialist himself, said out-patient specialists will get 20 percent crowns less from health insurance companies this year than last year.

He ascribed this to the ministry's decree on payments per treatment and said the CLK will file a constitutional complaint against it.

Nosek said the out-patient specialists' revenues will be on 2011 level while only the surgeries with an "over-production" will see a decline.

The situation is complicated by that the contracts of out-patient specialists' surgeries with health insurance companies are expiring and the insurers wanted to make use of this and not to sign new contracts with some doctors.

Zorjan Jojko, chairman of the Association of Out-patient Specialists, told CTK that negotiations with the ministry and health insurance companies have been successful and that all out-patient specialists will get new contracts.

He said an overwhelming majority of doctors should not have problems with the new decree on payments per treatment either.