The report was issued by the Prague 1 Municipal District through its mayor, Mgr. Pavel Čižínský, in response to a meeting last week between representatives of the Prague 1 Municipal District, representatives of Na Františku Hospital, and the Prague City Hall. The report discusses the future concept and operational framework of Na Františku Hospital within the broader context of Prague’s healthcare system.
“Together with a number of city council members, we saved Na Františku Hospital from fraudulent privatization in 2018. At that time, the previous leadership of Prague 1, under Mayor Lomecký, attempted to place the hospital in private hands and thus integrate it into one of the private healthcare conglomerates (companies such as Agel and Penta had expressed interest).”
Today, even the politicians who were responsible for this strange privatization attempt at the time have distanced themselves from it. All of Prague has realized that it truly needs Na Františku Hospital and that the city must devote much more attention to healthcare than it did before. In the past, Prague relied too heavily on state-run teaching hospitals and was not sufficiently proactive regarding its own municipal healthcare facilities.
Under its new leadership, Prague 1 is striving to cooperate as effectively as possible with the City of Prague, both in the area of healthcare and in all our other activities. The days when City Hall and Prague 1 blocked each other’s efforts or even engaged in petty squabbles are over.
Discussions with representatives of the City of Prague now indicate that Prague intends to pursue a significantly more proactive healthcare policy and, in particular, to coordinate the activities of municipal healthcare facilities much more closely. The cornerstone of this Prague regional healthcare policy is to be the preservation of Na Františku Hospital and its further development, based on the current scope and structure of the healthcare services provided.
One of the options is for the City of Prague to operate the hospital directly, a plan that the Prague City Council actually approved a year ago. If the City of Prague does not change its mind and continues to want to operate Na Františku Hospital directly, Prague 1 will agree to this. Na Františku Hospital is of citywide importance, and from the City Hall’s perspective, its development and the coordination of cooperation with other municipal healthcare facilities throughout Prague will be much easier.”
Kateřina Písačková, M.A.
Press Spokesperson / Head of External Relations
PRAGUE 1 DISTRICT