According to a newly published analysis by the Ministry of Health, the Czech health system is currently partially failing to ensure the availability of care, for example pediatricians or dentists or psychiatrists. In addition, the analysis warns that without the necessary changes, the public health insurance system is at risk of running out of financial resources. “You can’t start over every four years,” Deputy Health Minister Josef Pavlovic (Pirates) tells Radiožurnál.
Prague
20:56 May 3, 2024
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Health care reform is not possible every four years, says the Deputy Minister of Health (illustrative photo). Source: Profimedia
According to that analysis, the Czech healthcare system as a whole is approaching a state where it will not be economically sustainable. Without taking the necessary measures, including legislative changes, this situation will lead to the exhaustion of health insurance resources. When is this depletion imminent?
In the next 15 to 20 years or so, the number of living seniors aged 80 and over in our country will more than double. As a result, there will be an increase in the number of residents for whom health insurance is paid by the state, by up to ten percent. On the contrary, the number of people of working age who contribute to the pension system will decrease.
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We will also face demographic, economic, managerial and, last but not least, technological changes. Of course, we also have a proposed solution in the concept. It is public and every citizen can see what options we have and how the health system can be prepared for changes.
Is it possible to find a solution other than increasing health insurance contributions or spending more from the state budget on health care?
The main priorities of the concept are not only in the financial part, there is also an emphasis on prevention and improving the health of the population, so that we live to a healthy old age. The concept emphasizes personnel stabilization of the department in cooperation with the social and health system so that we carry the minimum amount of dead weight with us.
And then, of course, there is a great emphasis on modernization and the application of modern technologies in order to save time for people who navigate the system.
Structural problems
The analysis draws attention to the fact that there is currently a surplus of acute beds in Czech hospitals and, conversely, a lack of follow-up care beds. In addition, the population will age, as you talked about a moment ago, so the need for additional beds will continue to grow. Based on this, will you strive for changes in the structure and focus of hospitals? Can smaller hospitals be pressured to cut back on acute care?
I would say that this is something that has been going on for a long time. And this primarily in cooperation with health insurance companies, because they are responsible for the availability of health care. This means ordering for your insured and securing capacities.
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The problems are structural and it is necessary to find a society-wide agreement on how the measures should be taken, because practically no government has the possibility to prepare the healthcare sector for demographic change during the four years of its rule. There needs to be a consensus with long-term changes in the healthcare sector, so that it does not start again every four years.
As the population ages, so will the healthcare workforce. According to that analysis, a third of nurses are at risk of retirement within 10 to 12 years. How will you respond to this?
The Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, is preparing a government program to support the education of non-medical professions, especially nurses, and we are preparing to increase capacities by 20 to 40 percent in order to cover this demographic decline.
We now have numerous cohorts that we can approach with a job offer in the healthcare sector. Of course, we realize that this is not a short-term job. We want to make work in the healthcare sector more pleasant, so that it can be a job that you enjoy for a longer period of time and the system will provide you with protection against burnout. There are intervention services to ensure a quality environment for employees moving in the healthcare sector.
Everyone’s duty
The analysis also states that the health status of the Czech population is in many respects and areas worse than in Western countries, that we start to get sick earlier, that this is related to a lower ability to work. The solution should be greater emphasis on prevention. Can you briefly say how you imagine this motivation?
For us, it is absolutely essential that health is the responsibility of all of us. Not only the Ministry of Health, but all other departments. That’s why we created a coordinating body that will discuss tasks in the area of health protection and promotion primarily so that it actually has an impact within the entire company.
So that everything can be done for health already in elementary school. To start a debate in Czech society about, for example, the fact that ten beers every Friday really does not contribute to better health. Public health is an interdepartmental topic.
Tomas Pancír
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