CZECH REPUBLIC: Government approves pay rise for nurses

. PRAGUE, Czech Republic / The Prague Daily Monitor / ČTK / May 7, 2009 The Czech outgoing government approved a 15-percent growth in wages of hospital nurses as of July at its last meeting in Prague Wednesday. The health insurance companies have set aside one billion crowns to cover the nurses wage increases. The nurses wage increases will be confirmed in a government decree. The outgoing government Wednesday approved a bill on training of nurses which is yet to be approved by the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Outgoing health minister Daniela Filipiova told journalists that the outgoing government had not asked the Chamber of Deputies to discuss the bill in shortened proceedings and that the decision would be up to the new cabinet. The average monthly wage of hospital nurses last year was 24,221 crowns. Under the government's proposal, their wages will grow by 2500 crowns a month on average. The average monthly wage in the Czech Republic was about 25,400 crowns in the last quarter of 2008. Filipiova said it was necessary to ensure better working conditions for nurses to prevent them from abandoning nursing profession and taking other jobs. There are about 90,000 nurses in the Czech Republic, including 37,000 nurses who work at hospitals. According to the Czech Association of Nurses (CAS), up to 6000 nurses are lacking in Czech health care. Filipiova said that the shortage of nurses could threaten care for patients as many hospitals have already had to limit the scale of their services. She said that although 3010 nurses from foreign countries, mostly from Slovakia, have been granted permits to exercise nursing profession in the Czech Republic since 2004 they have been unable to completely fill the vacancies. According to Filipiova, the Health Ministry has issued permit for work abroad to 1193 Czech nurses. Copyright 2008 Czech News Agency (ČTK)