Doctors in Prague: There is a shortage of pediatricians and practitioners
Already in 2017, according to data from the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (ÚZIS) in Prague, 12 general practitioners for adults and children closed more than new ones were opened. The reason is also the high average age of doctors. At that time, pediatric practitioners in Prague were on average 58 years old45 percent over 60 and a fifth over 65 in retirement age.
The situation continues to deteriorate. Currently, half of the 230 pediatric general practitioners in Prague are over 60 years old, so they are likely to retire within a few years. “In some parts of the city, places cannot be filled. GPs retire there, without having anyone to hand over their office to,” Hana Cabrnochová, vice president of the Association of General Practitioners for Children and Adolescents of the Czech Republic, told ČTK.
Rush at pediatricians
According to her, over 800 children’s cards are stored at the municipality, ending with a doctor without compensation. Finding a new one is often a problem, for example, in places where new construction is being built and doctors in the area can no longer register additional children due to capacity reasons.
“We have managed to compensate for it so far by an increase in the number of children per surgery, but this does not go on indefinitely“She added. There are on average about 1,000 of them per surgery in Prague.” to start infectious diseases again without expanding the practice and involving other colleagues. But we lack young successors,” she added.
This year, the situation is visited by a wave of Ukrainian refugees, a large part of whom ended up in Prague. According to estimates there was in June, around 30,000 Ukrainian children, so there would be an average of more than a hundred for each surgery. According to Cabrnochová, the first onslaught helps children’s surgeries to cope with hospital UA points, but Ukrainians are already looking for a doctor they can turn to regularly. “With healthy infants and toddlers you don’t want to go to the hospital for prevention and vaccinations or for school and school assessments” she stated.
Examination of a child by a doctor (illustrative photo)
Author: Flash: Karel Kopáč
Delays interpretation
Caring for foreigners is also more time-consuming. “There is a need for interpretation and additional administrative work. Some surgeries also employ Ukrainian medical professionals who help with this,” said the doctor. However, health insurance companies only pay them for the care provided, without a flat-rate payment, and do not take these problems into account. According to Cabrnochová, subsidies for these administrative workers or financial support for surgeries that extend working hours for Ukrainian children would help.
Similarly, general practitioners for adults often meet Ukrainian patients in their offices in Prague. “Acute patients and unregistered patients are treated by all doctors, we don’t want to see some patients not getting the care they need,” said general practitioner Ludmila Bezdíčková.
According to her, the interest in registering with a general practitioner has recently been greater than before. “I only realized during the pandemic that it is important to have a registering general practitioner, and also that it is important that he be at the patient’s place of residence if possible,” she added.
According to her, the city could map the doctor’s office capacity and set up a helpline they could contact. According to her, it would also help if it paid for the transport of immobile seniors living at home to surgeries or if it was about health literacy, for example by organizing discussions. “It would also be useful to provide interpreters or escorts for examinations for refugees from Ukraine in our surgeries,” she added.
Does the insurance company have to help?
The President of the Czech Stomatological Chamber, Roman Šmucler, reminded that the responsibility for securing the health insurance company carries the doctors for their insured. “So there are (according to them) dentists in Prague, you probably need to get a contract, it’s not automatic. There is a lot of political pressure on insurance companies to push dentistry to the countryside,” he said. With a dentist without a contract with an insurance company, people pay for care themselves.
According to him, the city could contribute financially to higher accessibility. “If Prague feels that dentists are missing somewhere, I personally think that it concerns emergency services and care for certain groups of residents, it has a lot of money to solve it,” he added.
In addition to the aging of general practitioners, the analysis of the ÚZ showed that in Prague on the contrary, there is a large offer of specialized care, which is also used by people from other regions. The share of patients from outside Prague is up to 45 percent. For example, according to director Miloslav Ludvík, about a third of patients come from the Central Bohemian Region to the Faculty Hospital in Motola. The Central Bohemian Ambulance Service also transports patients from neighboring districts to Prague hospitals.
According to Ludvík, the city could hospitals to help, for example, with parking around the FN Motol and Na Homolce Hospital. “That’s one of the things that the municipality in Brno, for example, normally deals with. It would certainly be worthwhile for the city to invest in a large parking lot. After all, also considering that Motola is the final metro station,” said Ludvík.
According to Vinohrady hospital, municipal subsidies for health care for the elderly or children, support for hospital employees through apartments, crèches or kindergartens would help. “Or closer cooperation with the City Police in dealing with drunk and aggressive clients,” said hospital spokeswoman Tereza Romanová.