Health minister to start talks on securing pay rise for doctors

Health Minister Vlastimil Válek will meet with doctors and health insurance company heads on Monday to discuss the technical details of a salary hike for doctors in Czech hospitals, which are now running in crisis mode to protest against low pay. Although Prime Minister Petr Fiala last week promised to allocate an extra 9.8 billion crowns to hospitals, questions have arisen as to how the increased funds from insurance payments would translate into doctors' salaries. Doctors say they will not call off the protests until a mechanism has been found to ensure their demands are met.