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Talking PointHow are ambulatory physicians and smaller health insurance companies faring under the current Czech health care system?
At the beginning of the year, the majority of the Czech ambulatory
services, some 22,000 health care professionals, closed their doors to
patients and customers for an hour, to protest against the government's
failure to meet their demands during its reform of the health care sector.
The Czech Coalition of Ambulatory Physicians and the Union of Health
Insurance Companies say since their protest act, neither the government,
nor Health Minister Marie Souckova, have taken steps to consider the needs
of the ambulatory services and health insurance companies in their reform
plans. In this week's Talking Point, Dita Asiedu speaks with Jaromir
Gajdacek from the Union of Health Insurance Companies, and gynaecologist
and obstetrician Dr. Vladimir Dvorak, from the Coalition of Ambulatory
Physicians after a two-day conference that was held recently to discuss
their state in the current health care system:
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Current AffairsParents and midwives protest in Prague for woman's right to give birth at home
Only a tiny minority of Czech women choose to give birth outside hospital,
but they should still be allowed to make a choice - or at least that's
what both the World Health Organisation and the European Union recommend.
But Czech women may soon be denied the choice of giving birth at home with
the assistance of a midwife - if the Senate approves a bill recently
passed by the lower house. On Tuesday, mothers and fathers with young
children and midwives gathered in the centre of Prague to protest against
the move. Pavla Horakova spoke there to midwife Zuzana Stromerova.
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Press ReviewPress Review
Perhaps no story draws more attention in today's Czech dailies than
President Vaclav Klaus' visit at Milos Zeman's cottage in the Vysocina
region. The two men - who are former political rivals of the highest
calibre - both ran for the Czech presidency last year, a race Mr Klaus
eventually won. Former prime minister Milos Zeman welcomed Mr Klaus at his
cottage on Sunday with typical Czech fare - a selection of pork dishes
from a zabijacka or recent pig slaughter. The two men spoke for about
two-and-a-half hours - in the end saying they had just spoken as
"regular guys" and not as politicians. Regular guys perhaps, but
guys who still make pretty big waves in the Czech Republic: photos of
their meeting made the covers of almost ever single paper.
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Current AffairsHealth Minister Souckova promises to resign if health care reform fails
"If I fail to push through my reform plans, I'm prepared to
resign" - those are words that the Czech public don't hear very often
from the country's politicians. Now there is one such case, for Health
Minister Marie Souckova has announced she will resign if her proposal to
reform the ailing Czech health care system is not approved and
implemented.
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One on OneGary Edwards - clowning around in the country's children's hospitals
Rob Cameron's guest in One on One this week is someone who describes
himself as a "health clown". Gary Edwards really is a clown - a
professionally-trained clown who wears a bright red nose, plays the tuba
and falls over a lot - but he does these things in hospitals across the
Czech Republic, visiting sick and terminally ill children and trying to
put a smile on their faces.
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Current AffairsCzech doctors "postpone" services
The patience of Czech general practitioners, dentists and pharmacists is
quickly coming to an end. About 22 000 health care professionals stopped
providing their services Tuesday morning in hopes that the Czech government
will take notice of its failure to meet their needs during its reform of
the health sector.
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