News

From next year, patients in the Czech Republic will be able to access therapeutic psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms), following a criminal law amendment that legalises its medical use under strict conditions. Psilocybin treatment is to help people with depression and other conditions, for whom more conventional treatments, such as antidepressants, do not work. But funding and insurance coverage are still under negotiation, leaving the exact start date for wider access unclear, says Jiří Horáček, head of the National Institute of Mental Health (NUDZ).

The cost of a single psilocybin therapy can reach up to tens of thousands of crowns. Sessions last at least six hours and usually require two qualified therapists with psychiatric certifications and additional specialist training. Only a few dozen such specialists currently practise in the Czech Republic.

The parties of the emerging coalition government of ANO, SPD and the Motorists’ party say they expect the appointment of the new cabinet to take place within days of Andrej Babiš being appointed prime minister.

SPD chairman and newly-elected speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Tomio Okamura, said following three-party-consultations on Friday that the new government could seek a confidence vote in the lower house on January 13.

According to Okamura, the government’s first session will include rejecting the EU Migration Pact and the ETS2 emissions trading scheme.

Around 50,000 more hepatitis A vaccines have arrived in the Czech Republic, meaning that more people who want to get vaccinated amid the ongoing hepatitis A epidemic, will be able to do so. Doctors have recommended vaccinations, particularly for high-risk groups, but a shortage of vaccines has complicated the process.  The Health Ministry previously announced that over 125,000 more doses are expected by January. Since the start of the year, 2,880 people have been diagnosed with hepatitis A, which is twenty times more than last year and the highest figure since 1984. Thirty-one people have succumbed to the disease. The hardest hit is Prague, which accounts for more than 40 percent of all reported cases.

The Czech Republic is pushing for the reversal of the EU decision to end sales of new combustion-engine cars from 2035, the Czech News Agency reported. According to outgoing Transport Minister Martin Kupka, Italy, Poland, Slovakia and Bulgaria are behind the Czech proposal. The German government is also seeking to ease the post-2035 sales ban.

The European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU agreed three years ago to phase out sales of new combustion-engine vehicles from 2035. However, the deal included a clause requiring the Commission to reassess the target in 2026, taking into account market conditions, technological progress and economic impacts. The Commission recently announced it would bring the review forward to the end of this year, following requests from several member states.