Constitutional Court will not rule on healthcare fees before end of year

The chairman of the Constitutional Court, Pavel Rychetsky, has said that the court will not rule on a complaint on healthcare fees put forward by the opposition Social Democrats before the end of the year. The court is to study whether payments for visits to the doctor to be introduced as of January 1 are unconstitutional – clashing with the country’s Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms. Mr Rychetsky told radio station Frekvence 1 people would have to obey the law unless the Constitutional Court annulled the legislation, part of the government’s reforms. The court chairman stressed he disagreed with a petition launched this week by some politicians and public figures, calling on the public to express civil disobedience and to ignore the law when it comes into effect.