Válek: It’s not a tragedy, but luck that they found the tumor in time

My grandfather used to say: like a spring bush when it drops its leaves. I feel good. It was a difficult operation, they took not only my prostate but also my lymph nodes. Against the appendix, although it was acute, it was not an easy procedure. But it will gradually improve. I should be disabled for six weeks and rehabilitate.

I was relieved when I found out that I don’t have metastases and it can be removed. I am in the situation of a person who understands this and invented some screening programs, so I will not tell myself that it is a banality. I was worried when my PSA value came out, I was also dealing with the appendix and thus everything slowed down.

Even if it’s caught by screening and you don’t have any problems, you have concerns about whether it can be treated. When you find out that it can, and they recommend a surgical solution, you have to take into account that it also has its pitfalls. For example, in the fact that even if a person is better and could ride a bike, it doesn’t go that fast, you can’t stand or sit for a long time. Gradually, however, you start to put yourself together.

Terrible. People usually go to the doctor only when they have problems. Only then will he start going to preventive check-ups, which is a huge mistake. The principle of screenings and prevention, on the other hand, is based on the fact that you find out if a completely healthy person does not happen to have a problem somewhere that can be eliminated in the bud. It is the same as regular car inspections. You also don’t go on a tour with him until he stops driving.

I am a politically active person and I have also treated many politically active people. I know the pressures we as doctors were exposed to, and I never thought that I would do it differently and expose my colleagues to it. I consider it right for public figures and politicians to inform about it in this way. Citizens have the right to know and this will reduce people’s fears. It is not a tragedy, on the contrary, it is lucky if it is found in time and something can be done about it.

I wouldn’t say flaws. The department functioned perfectly, both in the Motol University Hospital, where I was treated for a prostate tumor, and in the University Hospital in Brno, where I was treated for appendicitis. But there were minor differences, for example in food. Both were very good and I was satisfied, but there was a different structure, so I already asked the director of directly managed organizations to find out why it is different, where it is more advantageous. We are looking for ways for patients who do not need a diet and would like to bring a steak, if possible.

I had a screening colonoscopy about seven years ago, which went well, and I’m going to have another one in two years. I also go for check-ups. I have several and one of them is dystrophic (defective), so they cut it out. It is done with local anesthesia, it is numbed and cut out. The doctor already told me the year before last at the Blesk clinic that he has a change that is getting worse and it is better to remove the mark as a precaution. Together with the prostate screening, these are the three main programs that I complete. But of course there are more of them.

We will also modify preventive inspections according to modern procedures, I also go to those.

Convince citizens that we are a good government. If we win the elections, which I am convinced, we will offer a good perspective.

The changes I made in three years, and will make in the last year, are absolutely key and fundamental. There are four laws, one of which will fully digitize the Czech healthcare system in the next year, and from 2026 it will be widespread.

We also have an amendment to the law on public health insurance, which will, for example, allow health care to be paid for those who live in border areas on the opposite side of the border. We provide care in regions where care is unavailable. We also significantly strengthen the competence and responsibility of insurance companies for providing care, for example by allowing them to pay scholarships for students if they start in places and fields where they are needed and stay there. There are many steps.

I do not think that the government would be negligent. I am convinced that it does a lot of things for the citizens, and I am sure that there is a huge amount in the health sector. For example, the valorization of payments for state insured persons, which helped to stabilize and develop the system. I already mentioned digitization…

The pace is definitely not slow. I came to the resort three years ago, when there was almost no digitization. Only eRecipe was created and it was not connected with the Ministry’s systems at all. Today you have an EZ Card, which is functional and during the next year we will have additional information for patients in it, as well as automatic ordering via reservation systems.

If the general practitioner is included in the pilot testing next year, he will write a request form, which he will give you in paper form and also send it electronically to the hospital that will be involved in the testing. According to her, they will order you there, describe the finding and give it to you again in paper form and also send it back to the practitioner electronically. The same, if they perform some kind of procedure on you, you will lie there for a week and you will receive a dismissal notice. This is uploaded automatically to the doctor’s information system. This is what we have been programming, debugging, testing and competing for three years. From January 2026, there will be heavy traffic.

We deal with it intensively with representatives of general practitioners and outpatient specialists. The system will never work one hundred percent, some people want a paper application. That’s why we won’t even ban it. I learned a lot about it in the Scandinavian countries. It is necessary to always have the option of a paper solution as well as digitization. The breakthrough is that all healthcare systems in the Czech Republic must be mutually compatible, and that will be the case.

We are part of the Spolu coalition, which is preparing a robust program and, of course, healthcare will be an integral part of it. However, we have either fulfilled or will fulfill everything we have in the healthcare program by adopting the four laws that I have in the House of Representatives.

We support primary care. I am the first minister who gives ninety percent of the money that goes to residential places (surgeries that train novice doctors and receive money from the state for this, note ed.) to general practitioners for adults and general practitioners for children.

The distribution is not decided by me, but by the accreditation commission according to the key, which I have no way of interfering with. I clearly told their representatives that it is an absolute priority for me that the residency positions next year go to general practitioners for children and that the main criterion is local availability. But there must still be a graduate who wants to start there. If you don’t have it, it will be difficult to allocate a residential place.

The solution is in the hands of insurance companies. We have to realize that the doctor can decide where to start. If he does not want to work in Aš, there is no way in a democratic state to force him to do so. I do not believe that Mr. President or anyone else would want us to return to the system of locations. We can only go the way of incentives. Cities and regions have a lot of space to support areas where doctors are lacking. I can set up payments and secure residential places, and I do that.

I believed that the right way would be two-year planning. However, representatives of NERV and the Council of Providers convinced me that this is not the optimal way and it is better to leave a one-year period, but to which the long-term priorities of the Ministry will be added, for which the Ministry decides that the money must go there. That’s what I did. The rest is purely a negotiation process, for which all parties will have data on care available. The first taste was the use of PET/CT devices by hospitals.

Without a doubt, I will be a candidate, and where else than in the South Moravian Region. However, it is still a matter of debate in the Together among the Presidents coalition. However, systemic changes in the healthcare sector must have a long-term and unified direction, and it does not matter who will sit in the ministry.

This is not something that is key and essential for me. I want the candidate list to be of the highest quality, to have good candidates and to have the best possible campaign.

This is a matter that is not so important from my point of view. It is important that the candidate is of high quality, that the leaders are ready to do the maximum work, and that the candidates are able to convince the voters that we are the right choice.

I can’t imagine it. I say that for myself. It is not about Karl Havlíček, but about the fact that the movement is owned by an oligarch. I experienced from the opposition, when I was the chairman of the club of the Chamber of Deputies, negotiations with other club chairmen and the only unknown was what Andrej Babiš would do. It was never possible to agree on that.

The destruction of the Chamber of Deputies consists in the fact that at the beginning of each meeting there are several hour-long speeches by Deputy Babiš on the program of the meeting, which block the discussion. A person who has always criticized the chatterbox now has it as his main job. He doesn’t do anything else there and he doesn’t respect people.

You must have a partner who is trustworthy. He may have different political views, life attitudes, but I can agree with him if we are concerned with improving life in the country. But if he changes his opinion by 180 degrees from hour to hour, does not keep his word on anything and owns the party, then it is difficult to build any kind of cooperation and trust on that. After all, how did those who joined the coalition with ANO turn out?

They are. And so they survived. Social democracy turned out the way it did. Remember what happened during covid. The Minister of Health said something on Monday, the Minister of Education denied it on Wednesday and the Prime Minister spoke on Friday and said that it will be completely different. That won’t change. This is how the movement is set up. It is absolutely impossible that there could be any cooperation with ANO.

This is a very difficult question. In my opinion, they are just as unpredictable, dangerous and destructive group as the YES movement. Don’t be angry, if the only topic I have is driving in cars with combustion engines, and the more they stink, the better, so I don’t know if the development of the Czech Republic and a better life for the citizens can be built on that.