Number of foreigners treated in Czech hospital up in 2008

The number of foreign patients treated in Czech hospitals rose by nearly 13 percent last year, according to government figures. Almost 80,000 foreigners received health care in Czech hospitals in 2008; most of them came from Slovakia, Ukraine, Germany and Vietnam. Health care provided to foreigners cost more than 550 million crowns, or 28 million US dollars, and was covered by foreign insurance plans or by the patients in cash.