Jan Blatný to become new health minister on Thursday

The Deputy Director of the Faculty Hospital in Brno Jan Blatný, will succeed Roman Prymula as Czech health minister. The official inauguration will take place on Thursday mid-day, President Miloš Zeman's spokesman Jiří Ovčáček announced after Mr. Blatný met with President Miloš Zeman in the latter's Lány residence on Tuesday afternoon.

News site iDnes.cz broke the story on Monday that Mr. Blatný was the proposed replacement for Mr. Prymula, citing a source familiar with the ongoing negotiations. However, Mr. Blatný can only assume office once he is approved by the president.

Jan Blatný is a pediatrician and hematologist. He has previously served as the Chief Physician at the Faculty Hospital in Brno and lectures at the Medical Faculty of the Masaryk University in Brno. He faced controversy during the spring first wave of the coronavirus pandemic from the NGO League of Human Rights, because he did not allow the parents of coronavirus infected children visits.

The current health minister, Roman Prymula, is set to leave office after being dismissed by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš for breaking the government’s coronavirus measures. He was caught visiting a Prague restaurant last Wednesday.