More than half of Czech healthcare facilities privately owned

2010-02-04

The Czech Office for Healthcare Information and Statistics (UZIS) has announced, in a recent report entitled Economic Information on Healthcare in 2008 that in 2008, there were 27,769 healthcare facilities registered in the Czech Republic, employing 44,382 doctors and dentists and 105,255 paramedics.
52.9% of healthcare establishments in the country were owned by individuals, private legal entities or the church. The remainder were owned and funded by the Health Ministry (30.8%) and regional or municipal authorities.
As of 31 December 2008, the healthcare network in the country consisted of 192 hospitals and 24,063 outpatient facilities. There were 63,263 hospital beds, of which 54,326 were allocated for acute care. In comparison with 2007, the number of beds in acute care wards had fallen by 577.
The number of physicians per 100,000 patients in 2008 was 355.7 full time equivalents, slightly more than the EU average of 317.1, whereas the number of dentists was 67.4 per 100,000 inhabitants.
There were 2,566 pharmacies and 219 medical device dispensaries operating in the country in 2008, whereas the number of pharmacists employed in the overall healthcare system was 5,832.