“Health Care after the Velvet Revolution: Czech Republic Health Policy in the Post Soviet Era and its Evolution within the World of European Union Health Systems”
November 23, 2009
5:00 - 7:00 pm
Paul Peck Alumni Center
Speaker: Dr. Martin Bojar, Head of Clinical Neurology, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
The Czech Republic has undergone seismic changes since its Velvet Revolution in 1989, including the demise of a fully socialized and state-managed health care system. Exposure to market forces and health care practitioner incentives as well as desire for new medical technologies and drugs came up against if not collided with public health needs and a health care system rooted in universal health care where individuals did not pay for services. Understanding the dynamics that drove the adaptation of the Czech health system, and its efforts to balance “mission and market”, especially with entry into the European Union, offers lessons for the US as it grapples with major health care reform.
Dr. Martin Bojar has experienced this transition first hand and was part of its evolution. Appointed as the first Minister of Health in the post communist era by Vaclav Havel, Dr. Bojar, one of the country’s leading neurologists, was instrumental in leading the Czech Republic’s health care system through this difficult time of transition. He will describe this transition n his talk and consider the future of Czech health care within the EU and in the broader context of global health.
Talk and Reception co-sponsored by the Office of International Programs and the School of Public Health.
For more information contact: Ms. Mary Carty: mary.carty@drexel.edu
