Prague’s Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) is the largest transplant center in Europe, transplanting 540 organs to 486 patients in 2019 and carrying out roughly 70% of all transplants in the Czech Republic. IKEM focuses on the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, organ transplants, diabetology, and metabolic disorders, According to Ondřej Viklický, the head of the IKEM Transplant Center, neither the largest center in the United Kingdom located in Birmingham nor the other centers in Northern Europe or the surrounding countries are achieving results as positive as those at IKEM. Last year’s number of operations was achieved due to a record increase in the number of deceased donors. There were 288 Czech donors with organs from 155 of them being used in IKEM. In the Czech Republic, the law requires consent to donate organs either by the donor or the donor’s family. Other transplant clinics are in university hospitals in Prague’s Motol Hospital, in Brno, Hradec Králové, Plzen, Ostrava, and Olomouc. What is IKEM? The largest Czech medical research and clinical hospital managed directly by the Ministry of Health which was established in 1971. The Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine (IKEM) is made up of 3 specialist centers,...
René Richter set a new world record today (Saturday, 25th) for the most empty cans ripped in one minute using teeth: 33 cans ripped! Richter’s nickname is The Golem and comes from Opava (Moravian-Silesian Region). His main goal is to dissuade young people from taking steroids at the gym and to show them that “one can do great things without anabolics”, Richter said. Mr. Richter plans to break one world record every month. “I want to lift a quarter-tonne horse using my jaw. The current record is nearly 300 kilos,” he said. Here’s the video of his performance last year.
Finland’s new prime minister, 34-year-old Sanna Marin, once floated the idea of a four-day week. It sounds quite glorious, doesn’t it? Czech Interior Minister Jan Hamáček fueled the debate after he posted on his Facebook his thoughts about a four-day workweek. “A four-day workweek. I understand that when we start talking about changes, we don’t always take them seriously. On the other hand, people once believed that shortening the workweek from six to five days was not possible. And it happened,” posted Hamáček on Facebook two weeks ago. “Can you imagine today at your job, that if you do your weekly tasks in four days that the weekend will then start on Thursday afternoon? What would you do on Friday?” His post was based on the Microsoft experiment in Japan. When, in August, Microsoft Japan tested a four-day week, productivity work shot up by about 40%. One Melbourne organisation found a six-hour working day forced employees to eliminate unproductive activities such as sending pointless emails, sitting in lengthy meetings and cyberloafing (messing around on the internet). However, Hamáček’s colleagues are not so keen on the idea. Former Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek admits that in the distant future, there might be a four-day workweek, saying...
The crime rate in Czechia increased by 3.5 percent to 199,221 cases in 2019 after a steady decline in the five preceding years, according to the annual police statistics.
Eight people died and thirty were injured in a fire at a Czech home for people with disabilities on Sunday, according to local media. Czech Television reported that the fire occurred at the northwestern town of Vejprty that borders Germany. Prokop Volenik, the spokesman for the regional rescue service, said that the fire broke out at around 5 a.m. local time and one of the injured is in critical condition. Czech media said the fire which was now under control was reported at 0349 GMT. “The fire broke out in the boys’ section of a home for the mentally handicapped,” said Jitka Gavdunova, the mayor of Vejprty, a small town on the German border some 100 kilometers northwest of Prague. Originally, rescuers said the fire had occurred at a nearby home for the elderly. Rescuers from neighboring Germany came to help their Czech colleagues who were not able to use helicopters due to bad weather. Prime Minister Andrej Babis called the fire “a terrible tragedy”, saying on Twitter that police and firefighters were doing their utmost. Probably the fire started in one room and that most of those killed died from smoke inhalation.
There are four National Parks around the Czech Republic that are perfect for hiking regardless of the season.
The Šediváčkův Long is the longest and most famous dog sled race in the Czech Republic and one of the toughest races in Europe. The 2020 edition will take place from January 21 to January 25. It is a four-day stage race on the shoulders of the Orlické mountains, including one bivouac (sleeping out on the snow). Every year mushers from Belgium, Czech, Denmark, France, Holland, Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Switzerland take part in this race. The race is rated as the Czech championship in LONG-distance (long trail). In 2004 there took place the Europian championship in Long and Mid. In the beginning, it was a rather crazy idea of a group of Šumavan mushers, who fell in love with the captivating and rough landscape of the Eagle Mountains while training on a visit at a friend’s place. Only 17 dog teams stood at the start of the first race in February 1997 in the town of Deštná. Over the years Šediváčkův Long has grown into a prestigious race at an international level. Since 2002, Šediváčkův Long has been one of the series of four extreme dog races for the Iron Sled Dog Man and Ice Dog titles. The other three...
Former Prague imam Samer Shehadeh admitted on Tuesday that he had helped his brother and sister-in-law travel to Syria to join a terrorist organization, Jabhat Fatah as-Sham (Conquest of Syria). Along with his brother Omar and his sister-in-law Fátima Hudková, were all charged with supporting terrorism. For these offenses, they face up to 15 years in prison. Shehadeh said he does not consider it a criminal act because he does not recognize the Syrian government or perceive Jabhat Fatah as-Sham as terrorists. In November 2016, Shehadeh first helped his brother to travel to Syria and join the terrorist organization. Later, he arranged for Fátima Hudková to leave as well. “I raised funds to help people affected by the war in Syria – to buy food, and secondly I traveled to Istanbul with a sum of money I collected. Then, I contacted jihadists, and I wanted to join them,” Shehadeh said in court. Czech intelligence services began investigating the trio in 2016. He left his post as imam in 2014 and was eventually expelled by the Czech Muslim community, according to Radio Prague. Shehadeh is Czech-born with Palestinian roots. Having secured a degree from the Islamic University of Medina, he took a...
Throughout the year, several public holidays are specific to the Czech Republic so we thought it might be interesting to give you a detailed list of them! There are 13 bank holidays in the Czech Republic in 2020. Except for Good Friday and Easter Monday, the dates of the holidays are fixed. The “sliding holiday” concept is not applied, i.e. when a holiday falls on a Saturday/Sunday, the following Monday is a normal business day. In 2020, local citizens will enjoy longer holidays than the past year, except for Easter. Holidays follow the weekend five times, mainly from May to September. 1 January – New Year’s Day (Wednesday): Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. 10 April – Good Friday (Friday): Good Friday is a public holiday since 2016. 13 April – Easter (Monday) 1 May – May Day (Friday) 8 May – Liberation from Fascism (Friday): 1945, the end of the European part of World War II 5 July – Cyril and Methodius (Sunday): In 863, Church teachers St. Cyril (Constantine) and Metoděj (Methodius) came from the Balkans to Great Moravia to propagate Christian faith and literacy. 6 July – Burning at Stake of Jan Hus (Monday): The...
On this day, 35 years ago, the leader of the Velvet Revolution Václav Havel became president of Czechoslovakia. It is interesting that he was not elected for that position directly by the people but by the Federal Assembly (Czechoslovak parliament). Havel was appointed to that post as the leader of the Civic Forum – the opposition movement that started the Velvet Revolution. Havel became the first post-communist Czechoslovakian president; initially reluctant to take up the post, the playwright-turned-president guided his country to greater freedoms. President Havel’s first New Year address, broadcast on Czechoslovak Radio three days later, was one of the most famous of his career, and in many ways was a watershed in the country’s history. “It would very unwise,” he said, “to interpret the sad legacy of the last forty years as something foreign, left to us by our distant relatives. On the contrary, we should accept this inheritance as something that we allow to happen to ourselves. If we accept that, we understand that it is up to us all to do something about it. We cannot blame it all on our previous rulers – not just because that would not be true, but also because it could weaken...
Slovo 21 has issued a publication Czech Republic: Your New Home for international protection holders. The organization will also offer them integration seminars in eight languages all around the country. People who are forced to leave their home country and seek protection in another country need to prove great determination. They also face a lot of fear as they need to rebuild their whole life from scratch. They have to leave behind their families, houses, works, and all social contacts. Once they arrive in the Czech Republic, they start a new life journey. They need to arrange housing, start working to provide for basic livelihood, find a school for their children, learn Czech, and try to understand how things work in a new unknown environment. They establish completely new social ties with local people. This will allow them to gradually integrate and find a new home in the new country. At first, dealing with everyday situations may be very difficult and confusing for these people. It is therefore important to help them make the first steps so that the process of their integration into normal life is as smooth as possible. The three-year project was launched in Autumn 2018. Its aim is to...
A live Christmas carp caused havoc in the Czech Republic on Monday when it jumped from a plastic bag on the passenger seat of a car straight into the lap of the driver. The woman was transporting the traditional Christmas delicacy home on Monday ahead of the big day when the fish made a bid for freedom. Surprised, she crashed her car into a concrete column and she sustained serious injuries, according to DPA news agency. A helicopter had to transport her to the hospital, where she is being treated. “The woman lost control of the vehicle and went into the opposite direction, where she crashed into a concrete pole,” the spokeswoman added. Police in the village of Horni said the woman was 62 years old and was so “shocked” by the carp landing in her lap, according to Czech media reports. Fish became popular for Christmas Eve dinner during the 13th century, because Catholics considered fish as a fasting food, and Christmas Eve was the last day of the Advent fast. The history of eating fish on Christmas Eve is entirely due to the fact that Catholics couldn’t eat meat during the fast. Traditionally, dinner is served after sunset and consists of carp and...
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