The rise in energy prices affects patients who are treated on devices at home – ČT24 – Czech Television
“We have a number of patients who already say primarily in the indication that they will not have electricity, that they do not want an oxygen concentrator, that they either want a different system or do not want oxygen at all,” says Milan Sova, head of the Department of Lung Diseases at Brno University Hospital. But in order for these patients to breathe, they have no choice.
The head of the lung clinic at the University Hospital Hradec Králové, Vladimír Koblížek, specifies that these are often patients with emphysema who have social problems. “Eighteen thousand a year is a big deal for them. So take one device, then pay different drugs. ”
Oxygen devices are used by thousands of people. Doctors estimate that up to 20 percent of patients may be at risk of energy poverty. “We used to write confirmation for various contributions, today it doesn’t work very well,” Koblížek complains.
Patients can apply for money from the employment office
The insurance company usually only pays for the rental of the system. People whose energy costs increase housing costs and find themselves in need, but you can apply for a contribution from the employment office. This may also apply to patients with electrical appliances.
“The device takes about two hundred watts, if I take an inhaler and a purifier, it costs me an extra fifteen hundred crowns a month,” says Jiří Pažout, who has been treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease for over twenty years. It pays twice as much as last year.
The arm is dependent on the device that supplies it with oxygen. According to doctors, it should be connected at least sixteen hours a day, even non-stop in case of complications. “I’ll use what they add to our retirement so I can breathe. You can’t live without a concentrator, I’ll walk ten meters without oxygen and I’m exhausted and I can’t breathe, “he adds.