Supreme Audit Office: Hospitals used some of the money intended for COVID recovery inefficiently

Funds intended to strengthen the resilience and preparedness of key domestic hospitals for possible threats contributed to this goal only to a limited extent. According to auditors, some recipients spent the money inefficiently and ineffectively. Hospitals also purchased equipment they did not need or for which they did not have enough qualified staff. This was revealed by the Czech Supreme Audit Office (NKÚ) during an audit of funding aimed at strengthening the resilience of the core network of healthcare providers. Auditors examined the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Regional Development of the Czech Republic, and selected hospitals.

The ministries provided nearly 19 billion Czech crowns for the projects. The funds came from the European investment instrument REACT-EU, which the Czech Republic received between 2020 and 2023 to support recovery from the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.