Doctor posts sign saying she will not register Romani patients, Czech Govt Commissioner for Roma Affairs calls it antigypsyism
In the town of Aš, Czech Republic in West Bohemia, MUDr. Markéta Feninová, who runs an office there, posted a sign to her door on Friday, 29 November warning the public that she is refusing to register Romani patients anymore. The sign posted in her waiting room had this message: "Given the increasing aggressivity of Romani people I will not register them, effective immediately."
The doctor did not remove the sign until after reaching an agreement with Mayor of Aš Vítězslav Kokoř, who posted the information to the municipality’s Facebook group, Město Aš lidem [Town of Aš for the People]. The Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs has since called that behavior antigypsyism and the ascription of collective guilt.
The first to report on the situation in Aš was news server Krimi-Plzen.cz. According to an eyewitness quoted by the news server, what preceded the posting of the sign was a conflict during which the doctor is said to have faced vulgar insults from some Romani people who were not residents of Aš and wanted to be registered with her nonetheless. Feninová, who also runs a practice in Bílina, opened her office in Aš in September, taking over the practice of the previous doctor who worked there.
The sign, which features Feninová’s official stamp, warned that she is literally refusing just new Romani patients. Czech Government Commissioner for Roma Minority Affairs Lucie Fuková has commented on the incident.
“In Aš and in other towns, it is necessary to create conditions so that escalated situations such as this one do not transpire. If a doctor refuses to register Romani people because of their ethnicity, that is based on the principle of collective guilt and antigypsyism,,” Fuková told news server Romea.cz.
“All Romani people are not responsible for an isolated case of conflict, just as the majority would not be responsible if a member from their ranks were to cause an incident like the one that recently transpired. Services have to be provided to everybody equally,” Fuková summarized the basic conditions for providing health care to the public.
According to the Commissioner, it is crucial to arrange for the availability of healthcare and for the safety of doctors, emergency medical technicians and all other parts of the rescue services system, especially when escalated situations could occur due to a critical lack of capacities to meet the needs of patients. “At this moment I am in touch with the local coordinator for Roma minority affairs, who is following this and aiding with addressing the situation directly in the locality concerned,” she told Romea.cz.
Mayor of Aš convinced doctor to remove the sign
Mayor Kokoř published a statement on the incident on Friday evening through Facebook. “An agreement is in effect that the doctor is registering all patients who were in the care of the previous physician there. Others have an opportunity to turn to the hospital in Cheb or to doctors in other towns. I am aware that the situation is not ideal, but together with the VZP insurance company and the Karlovy Vary Regional Authority we are intensively working on changing it,” he posted.
In his statement, the mayor said he and the doctor had agreed to remove the sign. At the same time, he drew attention to the gravity of the situation caused by a critical lack of pediatricians in Aš, calling the doctor’s grievances understandable.
“I contacted the doctor and we agreed she will remove the sign. During her office hours there will be increased surveillance by the local police on the scene. Aggressive behavior toward doctors cannot be tolerated. Nobody is allowed to behave in an inexcusable, condemnable way in order to force a doctor to provide care. Nobody should behave like an animal no matter what their ethnicity,” Kokoř posted.
Anti-Roma, racist comments were also posted directly in response to the mayor’s social media post. One included this statement: “Mr. 18 should have ended it.”
The number 18 is, in extremist symbolism, a famous alphanumeric code for Adolf Hitler, where the numbers correspond to the position of the letters A and H in the alphabet. According to news server iDNES.cz, the mayor said the physician agreed that the problem is not related to ethnicity, but to the behavior of the individuals concerned.
On the basis of those considerations, the sign with the discriminatory text was taken down. The news server also reported that Feninová also has Romani patients at her office in Bílina.
According to news server iDNES.cz, the incident was caused by persons who do not live in Aš. “They came from another town where there is no pediatrician to request registration. Nevertheless, my standpoint holds and I am writing a letter to the Prime Minister and the Government asking that they immediately address the situation not just with the lack of physicians, but also with the laws being poorly set up, because local authorities and municipal managers have no effective instruments to address this,” the mayor said.
Police: There is no reason to start a criminal proceedings in this matter
Police officers have not addressed the conflict and even in the case of the sign being subsequently posted did not see a reason to start a criminal proceedings. “Given the principle of subsidiarity of criminal law repression it is up to other state institutions to assess any breaches of legislation,” Jakub Kopřiva, spokesperson for the Regional Police Directorate, told news server iDNES.cz.
Enjoying equal, non-discriminatory access to healthcare and rejecting collective guilt are some of the basic principles of providing public services. Such principles, anchored in the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, the Constitution, the legal code of the Czech Republic and EU legal regulations, clearly establish that discrimination in health care is unacceptable.
Experts on the legal regulation of the medical profession and the Public Defender of Rights (the ombudsman) point out that refusing to provide medical care on the basis of collective guilt is not just unethical, it is also unlawful. Everybody has the right to equal access to care from a doctor irrespective of one’s ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation or other fixed characteristics.
That principle follows from Article 31 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees the right to protection of one’s health and free health care provided on the basis of public medical insurance. News server Romea.cz asked the Czech Medical Chamber to comment on the situation in the Aš consulting room, but we did not receive an answer before going to press.
We also did not manage to get a statement from Dr. Feninová. The telephone numbers listed for her offices in Aš and Bílina were either turned off, or nobody answered our phone calls.
Full statement by Mayor of Aš, Czech Republic, Vítězslav Kokoř
It is quite regrettable that in our town there has been a second incident in which a pediatrician was attacked with vulgarities and to face aggressive behavior from members of the public. The first such situation led a pediatrician to stop working here.
We managed to hire MUDr. Feninová after exerting a lot of effort, she provides care at least two days a week here. I am grateful for that.
This morning I was informed of another incident in which a group of 10 persons insulted the doctor and were vulgar and aggressive toward her. None of these persons had an appointment, they were not patients of the previous physician and they did not contact the doctor ahead of time to agree on how to register.
The doctor became indignant, justifiably so, and subsequently posted a sign in her office, the content of which you have been able to see on social media. I contacted the doctor and we agreed she would remove the sign. During her office hours there will be increased surveillance by the local police on the scene.
In Aš, the situation with the lack of pediatricians is serious – this is known to everybody. Most of us do our best to arrange for affordable healthcare. However, aggressive behavior toward doctors cannot be tolerated. Nobody is allowed to behave in an inexcusable, condemnable way in order to force a doctor to provide care. Nobody should behave like an animal no matter what their ethnicity.
An agreement is in effect that the doctor is registering all patients who were in the care of the previous physician there. Others have an opportunity to turn to the hospital in Cheb or to doctors in other towns. I am aware that the situation is not ideal, but together with the VZP insurance company and the Karlovy Vary Regional Authority we are intensively working on changing it
However, it is necessary to remind you that the VZP insurance company is primarily responsible for arranging patient registration, and it is exactly there that it is necessary to seek support.
There is zero tolerance for aggressive behavior and vulgarities in this town, irrespective of any ethnicity.
