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LN: Czech health care assessed well in European study

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Prague, Feb 1 (CTK) – The Czech health care sector finished 13th out of 35 European countries in the prestigious Euro Health Consumer Index (EHCI) 2015 study, overtaking all post-communist countries as well as some Western states, such as Britain, Italy and Spain, Lidove noviny (LN) wrote on Monday.

The position of the Czech Republic has considerably improved in ten years. In 2006, its health care received only 403 points, while in 2015 it was 760, which was 14 fewer than the 12th Austria.

Only eight West European countries, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Finland, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany and Iceland, achieved more than 800 points, LN writes.

The comparison study assesses the state of health care system according to 48 indicators in six categories.

It compares, for instance, the patients’ waiting time for a planned surgery, the possibility to order check-ups electronically as well as child mortality, abortion rate, the number of cataract operations, the extent of infant vaccination, the access to new medicines and prevention programmes, LN says.

The study appreciated the Czech Republic for being able to offer surprisingly good health care despite quite low total expenditures on the sector. Moreover, the Czech heath care system is relatively stable and at the same time with a low corruption level, which is rare in Central and East European countries, LN writes, citing the EHCI study.

The Czech Republic has succeeded mainly thanks to the access to health care, which was very well assessed in almost all compared parametres, for instance, a quick access to oncological treatment and short arrival times to hospitals.

On the contrary, it still lags behind in electronic communication, such as online reservation and e-prescriptions. The country has not yet succeeded in fighting the fatal consequences of the ischemic heart disease (IHD) either, LN adds.

“If we compare the Czech health care with other Central European countries or Hungary, Poland and Slovakia that spend similar per capita sums [on health care] like we, the Czech health care fares well in terms of the accessibility and quality of care,” Pavel Hrobon, expert in health care systems, told LN.

However, he pointed out that a high-quality treatment is not a common standard in the Czech Republic, but it depends on to which hospital patients are sent.

The study concludes that in general, the quality of European health care has considerably improved in ten years, LN writes.

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