CZECH REPUBLIC: Private medical facilities on rise

PRAGUE (Prague Daily Monitor) June 19, 2008: More and more business groups have decided to become active in Czech health care, buying hospitals, pharmacies and establishing surgeries, the daily Hospodarske noviny (HN) writes Wednesday. For health care businesses, 2007 was one of the best years in Czech history as towns and regions sold or rented 15 hospitals and five clinics they operated, the paper says. Slovak steel magnate Tomas Chrenek has the strongest position in private health care in the Czech Republic, HN writes. Chrenek owns 12 hospitals, six clinics, a chain of pharmacies and a health insurance company. Another major player in private health care is Marek Potysz who worked for Chrenek in the past, HN writes. Potysz came out with the idea of medical supermarkets. Starting a year ago, he now employs 20 doctors who have 20,000 patients. He has recently opened in Prague the first medical centre situated in a shopping mall. Opened from 8:00 to 20:00, it actually functions as a supermarket, the paper says. Last November, the Medicon medical group bought the Prague-Budejovicka clinic, the biggest Czech facility of its kind. Medicon has also gained control of a Prague diagnostic and therapeutic centre, a hospital in Humpolec, east Bohemia, and several pharmacies, HN writes. Small private doctors consider big business groups, especially the networks of Chrenek and Potysz, a big threat. "These chains will push down the prices, which may liquidate a number of private doctors," Milan Kubek, head of the Czech Doctors' Chamber (CLK) told the paper. Jan Jelinek, head of the Association of General Practitioners, shares Kubek's view. "Private doctors cannot compete with chains. The chains can subsidise their surgeries, but a private doctor cannot afford it," Jelinek said. Unlike Czech politicians, private owners of hospitals are not afraid to make radical changes in health care services, the paper says, in connection to the fact that the Health Ministry has been attempting to set clear rules and reform health care for many years. If it hinders the development of their business, private owners close or merge wards that have not enough patients or personnel and use the money saved to develop wards in which they are interested, HN writes. The new investors have been actually reforming the Czech hospital network that is among the densest in Europe, the paper says. Copyright 2008 by the Czech News Agency (ČTK)