News

Health Minister Milada Emmerova is receiving letters of complaint from the public after she urged citizens to write and let her know what problems they faced in the health sector. Following her invitation to the public last week, the minister allegedly received 120 complaints in a matter of days. They include criticism of health care ethics, health insurance companies and health care facilities. The minister said she was dealing with each and every case and would not leave any letter unanswered.

A two-week British-Czech air defence exercise which continued despite the deaths of six British soldiers in a helicopter crash came to an end on Friday. The six burned to death when their Lynx helicopter crashed on September 9 around 30 kilometres west of Brno. The cause of the accident is still being investigated.

The Czech engineering company Skoda Praha has won a contract to supply energy equipment worth 600 million crowns to a power plant in Bulgaria. Skoda Praha will rebuild one block of the coal-fired plant. A spokesman said Friday that returning to a "traditional market" was important to the company.

The three parties in the governing coalition have reached agreement on the framework for next year's budget. At a meeting on Thursday morning party leaders agreed to cut the proposed budget deficit from 93 to 84 billion crowns. The original figure was above the limit set by the European Commission in its convergence programme. The cut is expected to hit social benefits.