Parliament moves to cancel health fees

Opposition parties in the lower house on Friday won support for a bill which would cancel the controversial health fees introduced by the former centre-right government. Since the bill’s chances of passing though the Senate are meager, the opposition Social Democrats also put forward an amendment under which socially disadvantaged people and under-18s would be exempted from paying the fees. This proposal also received approval. Both amendments have come under fire from Health Minister Dana Juráskova, who said that restricting or scrapping health fees at a time of economic crisis would have an impact on the quality of health care.