Finance minister calls for resolution to Proton Therapy Centre dispute

Finance Minister Andrej Babiš has urged Health Minister Svatopluk Němec and the countrý’s largest health insurer VZP to try and resolve the controversy surrounding the Prague Proton Centre. Following a drawn out-controversy between the insurer and the centre the dispute looks set to end up in court in a case that Mr. Babiš said could cost the state billions of crowns. Police have filed charges of abuse of office against a former manager of VZP in connection with an agreement between the insurer and the Proton Therapy Centre, where he subsequently got a lucrative position. The insurance company is refusing to cooperate with the centre, instead sending cancer patients for treatment abroad, on the argument that the agreement on cooperation signed is highly disadvantageous for it.