Patients have option of paying extra for specialist

Patients at Czech hospitals will be able to opt for surgeons or specialists of their choice by paying a fee between five and 15 thousand crowns as of Friday. Facilities, however, will still have to provide top quality service even for those who “opt out”. In Prague, the Royal Vinohrady Teaching Hospital is one of the facilities providing the service; not all facilities will. The head of the Royal Vinohrady Teaching Hospital, Marek Zeman, has said that doctors booked by patients would receive 50 percent of the fee, while the rest went to the hospital budget. Lawyer and former head of the Constitutional Court, Eliška Wágnerová, has interpreted the service differently, saying the entire fee will go to hospitals in question and not be divided with specialists.

Author: Jan Velinger