Publication at Faculty of Science |
2017
Abstract
The age structure of physicians is one potentially serious issue affecting healthcare accessibility. In Czechia, as in many European countries, there is currently top-heavy physician age structures.
Primary care professionals (general physicians, paediatric general physicians, dentists and outpatient gynaecologists) tend to be either close to retirement age or at retirement age. Given that there are insufficient numbers of young physicians to replace older colleagues, there is a real risk that basic healthcare accessibility, which is a key indicator of the quality of healthcare, will worsen within a relatively short space of time and equal access to healthcare cannot be guaranteed.