More than 920,000 people in the Czech Republic, including more than 131,000 children, do not have a general practitioner, according to data from the Ministry of Health presented on Czech Television’s Questions by Vaclav Moravec yesterday.
Some 40% of GPs are over 60, so are expected to be close to retirement. According to Health Minister Vlastimil Valek (TOP 09), the situation will improve within a few years, with 1,667 new doctors currently being trained for the profession. However, according to Petr Sonka, chairman of the Association of General Practitioners, it will be a problem to get new doctors in some regions.
“The process takes several years for a doctor to decide to become a general practitioner or a specialist for children and adolescents,” Valek said. “But by 2030, the number of doctors under 34 in these fields will increase, and the average age is starting to drop.”
According to the head of the practitioners’ association, Sonka, about 120 doctors pass the relevant exams every year and can start working as adult GPs. He said such a number would be sufficient for the normal replenishment of retirements, unless there were significantly fewer in previous years. He also pointed out that 70% are women who drop out of the system during maternity leave.
With 25% more graduates coming out of medical schools next year, Sonka said it would be advisable to offer them more residency positions, jobs where they train in the offices of experienced practitioners. However, he added, the problem is that young doctors don’t want to go to some regions.
He said the government, under Health Minister Adam Vojtech (ANO), had tried to offer higher subsidies for their positions in regions where they are lacking. However, this was cancelled as discriminatory. Sonka suggested that these subsidies could be provided by health insurance companies or the regions themselves.
The public health insurance system has about CZK 530 billion available for next year, and the amount has roughly doubled in ten years. According to Valek, 60% of the money health insurers pay for care goes to salaries, and 10-15% to operational expenses such as energy or water. The opportunity to save on inefficiency or prevention is only about a quarter of the amount, or CZK 171 billion, he said.
