Prague City Hall has announced that a new dental emergency department will be opened at Františtek Hospital in Prague 1 to respond to the growing demand for dental services in the capital. The new department is expected to be operational in early September, when it will also provide normal non-emergency services.
The new facility is intended to relieve pressure on another independent center in Prague’s Spallena Street, which opened an emergency department for children and adults last year. This follows the closure of the emergency dental department for children at the Motor Hospital, which led to an influx of patients to the Spallena department.
Alexandra Udženija, Prague’s deputy mayor for social affairs, said this week that the soon-to-be-opened department at Františtek Hospital will provide normal dental services during the day, mainly for low-income, socially disadvantaged and uninsured citizens.
Prague City Council has approved a grant of CZK 3.37 million for the equipment and operation of the center. Udženija also confirmed that residents of the Central Bohemia region will be able to use the new Františtek equipment.
In addition, Prague City Council is in talks with Thomas University Hospital about opening a new emergency dental clinic for children. Detailed proposals are due to be announced in September.
Prague is facing a shortage of dentists, which reflects a wider situation in the Czech Republic. A report released in May by the Czech Dental Association found that one in five people in the Czech Republic do not have a registered dentist.
According to the World Health Organization, the Czech Republic had 7.3 dentists per 10,000 people in 2019, below the EU average of 7.7. The situation has been further exacerbated by the influx of Ukrainian refugees into the Czech Republic, which has led to population growth.
A case study from November 2022 illustrates the country’s dental problems: when a dentist announced that he would accept new patients in a town in South Moravia, about 1,000 people lined up – many overnight – to get a chance to register.
Another reason for the problem is that many dentists choose not to sign contracts with health insurers (and therefore choose to see patients privately) because they believe that health insurers do not compensate them financially enough. The VZP announced plans last year to help address this problem through increased funding and incentives.
The opening of the new center will bring relief and help to thousands of people suffering from dental diseases in the capital and the Central Bohemian region and at least partially relieve the burden on the capital’s public dental system.
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