Health minister says government will have to provide hospitals with funds to cover agreed pay rise

The Czech government will need to provide hospitals with funds needed to meet a 10-percent pay rise for staff, hospital representatives and Health Minister Svatopluk Němeček agreed Monday. The minister stressed that the hospitals would need further money for development. He has repeatedly stressed that the state should markedly increase minimal health insurance payments to help covers funds on behalf of children, pensioners and the unemployed, from the present 870 crowns to 1,007 crowns a month. As the state pays the insurance for nearly six million people, the healthcare sector would gain almost 10 billion crowns if insurance were increased.