大象传媒

Dear Mr Datar,
My name is Fyodor Tcheredeyev, I live in Prague, Czech Republic.

Two bits of information presented by the 大象传媒 caught my attention recently, viz. reporting on Czech doctors leaving Czech hospitals.
To me the coverage of this sad process by the 大象传媒 seemed questionable, to say the list.

The first bit was presented on Radio Cesko which, I understand, used to be the 大象传媒 Czech service. The second bit can be found here: /news/world-europe-12128729.
The first things that I could not but notice were factual inconsistencies, to say the least, in both materials. The second 鈥� the one-sided and pretty subjective coverage.

Let鈥檚 take the facts. In the first bit aired in Czech it was mentioned that the average salary of a poor doctor earned only US$ 900 - 芦a starting salary at McDonald鈥檚禄. The version available on the 大象传媒 web delicately alters it to a 芦waiter鈥檚 salary禄. Oh dear me, so that鈥檚 where the big money is! Why have I wasted all the time learning and training, I should have gone straight to McDonald鈥檚.

I did not, instead I have become a language specialist, and teaching is one of the things I do for a living. Let鈥檚 do some calculations here. The good doctor from the 大象传媒 article was making about US$ 900 while studying at university, he was teaching English 鈥渢o pay his way through university鈥�. That鈥檚 about 17600 CZK. If you get 500 CZK for a lesson as a teacher 鈥� you are VERY lucky. Lots of teachers working for language schools have about half of the sum. Same is true for state schools. Been there, done that. This tells us that the good doctor had about 35 lessons per month, 8-9 lessons a week! And that if he was extremely lucky and got 500 CZK per lesson (which I have reasons to doubt 鈥� a native speaker, maybe, but a medical student...) So, if that was not the case and he got some 300 CZK (not bad at all, actually) he should have had more or less about 60 lessons per month, 15 lessons a week! With all the preparations and commuting, I cannot but admire his ability to squeeze some medical studies in his teaching.

Talking about average salaries does remind of the 鈥渁verage temperature in a hospital ward鈥�, does it not? What is an average salary? Salaries have an unfortunate tendency to differ from the capital to a small town. Take the average salary in Prague, and you get all the salaries of CEOs, Directors, Managers and what not of all the multinational corporations, banking institutions, hi-tech companies and so forth. Then there is a wonderful Czech contraption called 鈥渟uper-pre-tax鈥� salary (superhruba mzda in Czech). To get this lovely thing you take the pre-tax salary and add 26% of the pre-tax salary (social insurance) and 9% of the pre-tax salary (medical insurance). I am not an accountant and the exact figures tend to change every year, but it gives you an idea. Now compare the super-pre-tax salary of a Microsoft manager in Prague with a post-tax one of a nurse in a far-off village, and what do you get?

By the way, if the doctors are so peculiar about money, why don鈥檛 they return the money the state has invested in their education? I hate to count other people鈥檚 money, but the doctor鈥檚 initiative is most likely to result in me 鈥� the end-of-the-food-chain taxpayer paying more, and this is something that might rather worry me.

Of course the doctors make just one half of the problem. The inefficiency, to say the least, of politicians, the lack of interest to solve, or even to see the problem on the part of the (several, I believe) governments also plays its important role. I cannot but laugh at the majority of Czech politicians, really. The Health Minister, when asked about smoking in pubs, says he doesn鈥檛 mind if someone smokes next to him, the Education Minister recommends the potential students should get a couple of years teaching experience at schools BEFORE entering a pedagogical university 鈥� just two of my favourite examples of modern Czech 鈥減olitical thinking鈥�.

The article paints a picture of poor doctors suffering in their tiny surgeries in the centre of Europe. What about rich teachers? What about rich social workers, policemen, firemen? What the article fails to describe is the dramatically wrong system 鈥� and, oh please correct me if I am wrong 鈥� in the whole Western world. Anything for money. Ethics? Morale? Social values? Give me a break! I failed to notice a desire on the poor doctors鈥� part to raise at least one comprehensive problem of the modern Czech society. Not a single one. It has become a de facto crime to be of old age in the Czech Republic. How many old people 鈥� who made it possible for modern 30 year olds to get their education, among other things 鈥� cannot afford to pay the rent for a place where they鈥檝e lived all their lives? The integration of people of other nationalities is becoming a problem. Have we forgotten the sterilization of Roma women? Of ill children in cages, in hospitals, by the way?
Come on! Is blackmail a way out? At least the doctors are trying to be fair. 芦We want money禄 say they in the 大象传媒 article. Does anyone happen to remember what the Hippocratic Oath is about?

I know firsthand that an average social worker gets about 12000 CZK (US$ 625, GBP 403, EUR 482) per month pre-tax. And, believe it or not, they also have to pay rent, buy food, and 鈥渆ntertain鈥� their families. I must admit I have not heard of a 鈥渢hank you, we鈥檙e leaving鈥� movement amongst them. With this in mind, I can only ask 大象传媒 to be more objective in what you publish, and to aim at a deeper analysis of what鈥檚 going on in this world.

P.S. There is one point which has to be made for the doctor who was speaking on the Czech radio and whose name I failed to remember. He did say, and in English too, while addressing his patients: 芦We are leaving for you禄. Thank you very much, Mr Doctor, I feel a lot safer now that the 芦we want money禄 people go away.

P.P.S. The article was reprinted by Lidove Noviny [Unsuitable/Broken URL removed by Moderator]
I鈥檝e taken the liberty of translating some of the comments:

Obviously 大象传媒 didn鈥檛 do their homework:
Please show me a waiter who makes those 50000 CZK. Statistically they have about 13000 CZK.

Doctor Papp may not be a very good doctor if that is how much he makes. If he goes abroad he might be just good enough for Czechs. 鈥� The problem of Czech healthcare system is the fact that doctors are not paid for their quality. Oftentimes a bad doctor is better paid than a good one.