Prague, March 31 (CTK) – Almost no Czech hospital can guarantee the full operation of its surgery wards and in most of them the full operation of the wards of internal medicine and gynaecology and obstetrics cannot be guaranteed either, the Czech Doctors’ Chamber (CLK) told a press conference yesterday.
The safety of the patients is threatened, professors of the three above medical fields warned.
CLK head Milan Kubek said Czech doctors leave for abroad or open their own private offices because there is not enough money in the healthcare system. The government should urgently approve a crisis plan, he added.
But the Health Ministry said there is no need to scare patients in this way.
Deputy Health Minister Tom Philipp told Czech Television (CT) that the situation does not demand the introduction of a crisis plan.
Medical treatment is available for all and patients do not need to be afraid to go to hospital, Philipp said. Some smaller wards are closed, but their work is replaced by big centres, he added.
Philipp said the ministry raised the pay of the staff in hospitals.
Renowned surgeon Pavel Pafko presented a result of a survey concerning Czech hospitals at the CLK press conference.
Pafko said 92 percent of the head doctors of surgery wards from 60 hospitals said they were not able to guarantee the full operation of their ward, unless the employees would work overtime more than 416 hours of a year, which is against the Labour Code.
This is true also about the heads of 75 percent of internal medicine wards and 63 percent wards of gynaecology and obstetrics, the survey showed.
On average, a Czech surgeon worked overtime 1000 hours a year, which is much higher than the upper limit set by law.
