Prague's Podolí Maternity Hospital to Lose Oncogynecology Center Status Despite CZK 60 Million Modernization

The Institute for the Care of Mother and Child in Prague's Podolí district is set to lose its status as an oncogynecology center — the facility no longer meets the established criteria for the number of surgeries performed. This was announced at a meeting of the health committee by Tomáš Hauer, advisor to Health Minister Adam Vojtěch (ANO) on the centralization of medical care.

According to him, fewer than thirty oncogynecological operations are carried out in Podolí each year, which no longer corresponds to the level of a highly specialized center. “If you hold the status of a center but fail to meet that responsibility and no longer satisfy the criteria, the status is simply withdrawn. That is exactly what is happening now with the oncogynecology center in Podolí,” Hauer said, adding that the institute's management has come to terms with the situation.

A CZK 60 Million Modernization Seven Years Ago

The institute was granted oncogynecology center status in 2015. Just two years later, in 2017, the department underwent a major modernization, for which the institute received a grant of CZK 60 million — 45 million of which came from EU funds, with the remaining 15 million from the state budget. At the time, Miloslav Ludvík (ČSSD) served as health minister, while the finance ministry was headed successively by Andrej Babiš and Ivan Pilný (both ANO). The modernization was completed in 2019.

Institute spokeswoman Gabriela Hošková acknowledged that the number of radical oncogynecological surgeries performed in recent years no longer meets the criteria for a highly specialized center, while stressing that the institution respects the ministry's strategy of centralizing such care. The institute's accreditation for oncogynecological surgery will remain valid until the end of 2028.

Institute director Ladislav Krofta assured that the quality of care will not suffer as a result of the change in status. “Our goal remains to provide patients and their children with the best possible care in gynecology, obstetrics and neonatology — these remain our core areas of specialization,” he said.

Birth Rates Are Falling, and Funding Has to Be Found Elsewhere

Maternity hospitals across the country have faced the same problem in recent years — the birth rate is declining, and 2025 only confirmed a long-standing trend. According to the Czech Statistical Office, 77,600 children were born alive in the country last year — the lowest figure since comprehensive statistical records began in 1785, said Terezie Štyglerová, head of the office's demographic statistics department.

This has also affected the number of births in Podolí: in 2025, 3,752 women gave birth there, and for the first time in a decade the number of deliveries fell below four thousand. “The situation is extremely difficult, because the number of births is declining, and for us that is our main source of income and reimbursement from healthcare payers,” institute director Ladislav Krofta said in January. The institute is trying to offset the drop in births through other fields — gynecology, urogynecology and oncogynecology.

In recent years, the Ministry of Health has been consistently centralizing the most complex medical care in specialized centers in an effort to improve quality and safety. Center status is crucial for medical facilities primarily because of the payment system: for certain highly specialized procedures, insurance companies reimburse care from the public health insurance system only to facilities holding the corresponding status.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz