Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis sacked Health Minister Jan Platny on Wednesday. The government said on its website that the new head of the ministry is Peter Arrenberger, the former director of the Vinohrady Hospital in Prague.
Platney, who had headed the Health Ministry since September last year, described his expulsion as a political decision of the prime minister’s right.
“My conscience is clear.” I tried to work as a professional and make decisions based on arguments and professional analyzes, “Platney told reporters at a press conference in Prague. He indicated that the Prime Minister may have done so because he believes that the Czech Republic has already passed the most difficult stage of the epidemic.
And the head of state, Milos Zeman, had called for Platney to be sacked more than a month ago, arguing that he believed the prime minister was not a good manager and took the wrong steps. Zeman stated that if Babys Platney is not ruled out, it will have a negative impact on their good relationship so far. The opposition criticized the head of state and said that Platney, who was previously a hospital director, administered healthcare fairly and made informed decisions on professional grounds.
According to the press, Zeman’s main complaint was that Platney refused to allow the use of Chinese and Russian vaccines against the Coronavirus in the Czech Republic because the head of state pressed publicly. Under current law, the decisive word on such a professional matter is the Minister of Health.
“As long as I am the head of the ministry, vaccines that have not been approved by the European Medicines Agency will not be used in the Czech Republic,” Jean Platne, the third health minister in the PAPIS government, confirmed on several occasions.
In the Czech Republic, the spread of the epidemic has slowed for a few weeks, with a significant drop in the number of new infections and deaths and pressure on hospitals every day. Platney even announced as a minister that, given the improvement in the situation, Czech hospitals were ready to receive 50 foreign patients infected with the virus. (MTI)
