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Medical Graduates Per 100,000 Population, 2019: 16.1
Nursing Graduates Per 100,000 Population, 2019: 28.7
Percent Share of Foreign-Trained Doctors (2017): 7.4%
(Note: According to OECD, “Medical graduates are defined as students who have graduated from medical schools in a given year.”)

Source: OECD (2021), Health at a Glance 2021: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/ae3016b9-en.

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“By law, higher education at public and state institutions is free of charge for citizens of all nationalities. However, some fees might be requested: fees for administration of admission proceedings, fees for extending the duration of study beyond a set limit and fees for study in a foreign language. Private institutions of higher education can fix their own fees.”

Source: Study in the Czech Republic: Tuition Fees. Czech National Agency for International Education. Last accessed Oct. 8, 2020.

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“The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports is responsible for setting standards for educating and training physicians towards their first degrees. University medical studies consist of six years’ study; dentistry and pharmacy studies require five years.

“There are eight medical faculties in the Czech Republic at the time of writing, five of which are located at the Charles University in Prague (three in Prague, one in Plzeň and one in Hradec Králové). There are also two pharmacy schools, one of which is located in Hradec Králové and the other in Brno. Limits on the number of applicants who may be accepted to medical, nursing or pharmacy programmes are set by the schools themselves, not by the government (see Table 4.7 for further details on the number of students of health-related degrees). The eight medical faculties had a total of 14,406 students (including 1372 dentistry students) as of 31 December 2011. Women represented about two thirds of all students.”

Source: Alexa J, Rečka L, Votápková J, van Ginneken E, Spranger A, Wittenbecher F. Czech Republic: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(1):1–165.

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“The Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports is responsible for the graduate education of nurses and other non-physician health professionals and assists in developing curricula in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, which sets minimum standards for various study programmes. Since 2004, when new conditions for obtaining and recognizing first degrees and specialized postgraduate training were established, nurses have been required to complete an accredited Bachelor’s degree programme (ISCED 5) that consists of 2300 hours of theoretical education and 2300 hours of practical training. Nurses may also pursue a specialization by taking part in courses accredited by the Ministry of Health and passing the state licensing exam; the courses are offered at universities and other educational facilities, and the state licensing exams are administered by the Ministry of Health. In 2009 the requirements for and form of the licensing exam were adjusted by a directive of the Ministry of Health.

“The providers of specialization courses that increase the qualifications of non-physician professionals are chosen on a competitive basis. For example, the Institute of Postgraduate Education in the Health System was the main provider of the Ministry of Health’s individual education programme “Improving non-physicians’ professional knowledge” from May 2010 to April 2013. More than 32,000 people received further education free of charge through this programme, which was supported financially by the EU Cohesion Fund. After becoming general nurses (with or without specialization), individuals must prove every ten years that they have received a certain number of credits in further education courses accredited by the Ministry of Health. The quality of the courses offered is also monitored by the Ministry.”

Source: Alexa J, Rečka L, Votápková J, van Ginneken E, Spranger A, Wittenbecher F. Czech Republic: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(1):1–165.

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“After graduation from medical studies, doctors in the Czech Republic usually start training for their chosen specialization in hospitals. Certain requirements exist for each specialization (for example, length of training, rotations, number of procedures performed, and so on) but there is no structured progression as such (see previous section 4.2.3).

“Professional development mainly depends on individual motivation and ambition. Part of the training for specialization can (or in certain fields must) be done in an ambulatory setting. After being awarded a specialty degree, doctors can either pursue a hospital career or work in an ambulatory surrounding. In ambulatory care doctors can found a private practice alone or with partners, or choose to be employed in a practice conglomerate. Individual private practice is by far the most common form of work for doctors in ambulatory care in the Czech Republic.

“In hospitals doctors can progress from senior physician to assistant medical director and medical director. The larger health-care facilities (hospitals) usually have some hierarchical structure and wards are directed by senior doctors (primář). In state-run facilities there is a link between the years served and salary, because part of the salary is determined in a way similar to that for civil servants, but generally there is no rule stating that doctors with more years of service should attain senior positions or earn more. In university hospitals doctors may combine clinical duties with research activities. Apart from personal merit and ambition, promotions and career progressions are dependent either on the superiors or the institutional board.”

Source: Alexa J, Rečka L, Votápková J, van Ginneken E, Spranger A, Wittenbecher F. Czech Republic: Health system review. Health Systems in Transition, 2015; 17(1):1–165.

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World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated July 28, 2023 by Doug McVay, Editor.