votes: interview Daniela Filipiová Minister of Health Photo Vladimír Weiss
An interview with Daniela Filipiová Minister of Health Health Care Without Barriers Daniela Filipiová 1957 graduated from the Faculty of Architecture of the Czech Technical University in Prague Afterwards she worked as a designer in the Regional Civil Engineering Design Institute Prague and later as a designer at the Genesis Design Studio Since 1995 Daniela Filipiová has been consulting general requirements applying to the use of buildings and structures without barriers by impaired persons She has been Senator of the Senate of the Parliament of the Czech Republic since November 2000 and also member of the Senate’s Committee for Health Care and Social Policy In 2009 Daniela Filipiová was appointed Health Minister of the Czech Republic Daniela Filipiová is married and has two daughters Leaders Magazine II 2009 29 The Ministry of Health is considered to be one of the most demanding posts with regard to the majority of unpopular reforms necessary to be implemented at present According to you what should be the successful minister equipped with for this period The successful minister should primarily equip himself with patience and willingness to compromise The minister and his team have to learn how to present prepared reforms in order to be comprehensible to wide public Thus depriving reforms of the tag unpopular as a tag like this is not only misguiding but in the first place wrong On the contrary the reforms should be popular as they contain positive changes helping Czech patients get better and or high quality health care In the present day state health care there are undoubtedly powerful residues of socialism What is according to you the ideal health care you could enforce regardless of political barriers First of all I have to say that I am rather horrified that health care should be politics as health care is no politics at all Health care deals primarily with people’s health and with providing the best service available Unfortunately the residues of socialism mean mainly that we still have to work within the framework of the laws adopted in the 1960 s Thus it is impossible to carry out fundamental changes leading to the state where the patient is not only a diagnosis but he is a partner as well There obviously still exists the experience of people from past times when they were used to see a doctor with an envelope in order to gain access to a better care Moreover a certain passive approach still prevails it is the attitude people adopted in all spheres of life under socialism The passive approach is apparent in the relationship with doctors The perfect health care occurs when the patient is the one who decides The doctor should realize that the patient has a right for information and thus he should notify them of the options in their treatment Patients should have an opportunity to consult whether the treatment offered to them in a particular institution is good There should be at least a relationship based on partnership as the doctor is the one who has knowledge and opportunity to help the patients to cure them You decided to carry on with reforms of previous Health Minister Julínek Could you give reasons for this decision The reasons are entirely simple It is these reforms that contain the transformation of socialistic health care into modern health care in which patients know as soon as they enter a health care institution that they are going to use a service they had prepaid in a certain way In other words they are the masters and the doctor should respect their wishes Thus it did not take me long to decide whether to continue with the reforms of the previous minister Julínek and I will be very happy if I manage to enforce all reform laws to the maximum extent In this context what is your negotiation strategy How far are you willing to go to make a compromise My strategy is to hold talks and find compromises with all parties involved i e with the health service providers insurance companies and certainly also with political partners How far am I willing to go I obviously cannot help the law become empty as it would lose its sense and its substance However I am not going to be content with mere critique I will always require concrete proposals in the preparation stage which I will consequently try to embody into the legislative form Then I expect further talks over the entire nature of the law as we have to find a compromise of the final version we all will support Many advocates of the reforms emphasize that the essential changes of the payment system can lead to further debts in the health care system Do you think that this view is justified Payments mean an income for the health care insurance system they are its indirect income as thanks to payments we also reach considerable savings I can also admit that changes of the payment system could lead to debts in health care Any saved billion is a good billion because it is particularly aimed at treatment of all seriously ill Moreover the most up to date treatment is available to more patients I only regret that the changes of payment system were too broad For my part it was not just a simple compromise but rather an effort to preserve at least 70 percent of the income and savings of health care insurance companies I find this effort successful You have invited several representatives of the Czech Medical Chamber to the preparation talks on reform laws What do you think you will get I would appreciate responsible approach of the representatives of medical public regarding the new law Moreover I am convinced we will find a mutual consensus An architect by profession you help to solve the issues of barrier free interiors What is the situation in the Czech Republic in this respect when compared with other EU member countries During the last twenty years definitely a lot of things have changed for better In my opinion the situation in large cities is almost comparable with Western Europe Problems remain in smaller cities or townships where barrier free problems are not approached as I would like to see Do you have time for your hobbies How do you relax I have to confess that I have not enough time for my hobbies lately My hobbies are music and reading The only opportunity is when I sit back in a chair take my cat onto my lap and relax which lasts for about a quarter of an hour a day I really have no more time for longer relaxation at present By Pavlína Holancová českou verzi naleznete na www leadersmagazine cz
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