Czechs to pay doctor’s fees

As of January 1, Czech patients are having to pay 30 crowns ( less than a dollar) for each visit to the doctor and for each prescription, and 60 crowns for each day spent in hospital. The move is a part of a far-reaching reform of the health sector introduced this year. The aim of the reform is to save money, bring new funds into the health sector and to stop people abusing the system. After the law was passed in Parliament, its opponents lodged a complaint with the country’s Constitutional Court on the grounds that the fees would breech the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.