Swiss health care experts share experiences with Czech counterparts at Prague conference

Leading Swiss health care experts are in Prague this weekend to share their experiences and help their Czech counterparts with the ailing health care system. Switzerland is known to have one of the best and most liberal health care systems in Europe. But, just like the Czech Republic, it is battling problems with the financing of hospitals and growing debt, the Swiss health minister Pascal Couchepin said at a conference on Saturday.

The newly appointed Czech health minister David Rath noted Czech health care reform is especially complicated - Switzerland has 600 billion crowns (some 24.5 billion US dollars) for a population of 7 million; the Czech Republic has a mere 200 billion crowns (some 8.2 billion US dollars) for its population of 10 million.