Česky
When and why did you find yourself in the Czech Republic?
S.Z.: I came to the former Czechoslovakia in 1985 to study as a scholarship student. Greece was ruled by the socialist government of the PASOK party under the leadership of Andrea Papandreou. Just as the new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is today, Papandreou had a very atypical public image then. For example, he tried to establish contacts with the then communist bloc countries. As part of this policy, a few Greek students were given the opportunity to study in Czechoslovakia. I was one of them. After almost a year of language training in Zahrády near Česká Lípa, I entered the Faculty of National Economy at the University of Economics in Prague. I graduated in 1989, at the time of the Velvet Revolution.
Has your business always been healthcare? Ev., how did you get interested in buying hospitals? Which medical facilities do you own besides the Hořovice Hospital?
S.Z.: I started doing business in Greece, I also did business briefly in Poland and then in Czechoslovakia. First I worked as a sales representative of a well-known Greek company, then as a partner and then as a co-owner of a company that imported dry fruits to the Czech Republic. Since the late 90s I moved into the health care sector. I started my business in this area first in Prague and then in Pardubice, where we opened the Multiscan Radiology Centre in 2002. In 2006 and 2007, the Central Bohemian hospitals were privatised. My interest focused on the hospitals in Hořovice and Beroun.
You invest a lot in hospitals. Where do you get the money for your investments? Do you get a return on these investments?
I calculate that in the seven years that have passed since privatisation, I have invested hundreds of millions of CZK in the reconstruction and modernisation of the equipment of both hospitals. I have invested all my capital that I acquired in my previous business. I prefer not to think about the return on the investment. I would have to live for another 200 to 300 years to get a return on my investment.
Can you get state or European subsidies? If not, does it bother you? Do you consider it discrimination?
S.Z.: We only get subsidies in exceptional cases... The only money we received from the state administration was a subsidy for solar panels that heat water in the Beroun Rehabilitation Hospital, or for a few other really very marginal projects, not even reaching one percent of the invested capital.
In principle, I am bothered, not to say directly offended, by the different approach taken by state institutions, particularly the Central Bohemian Region, towards state and private healthcare facilities. It is like a teacher praising the worst pupils while reprimanding the best ones for their good results. And it also bothers me that private people are accused of just picking raisins. I mean, they only take patients who are worthwhile. I don't know about anywhere else, but we take everybody. Over 86% of people continue to use our services.
What kind of cooperation do you have with the towns where your facilities are located? What needs to change in the hospital vs. city relationship?
S.Z.: I remember very vividly my first visit to a meeting of the Hořovice City Council, which was to decide on the privatisation of the local hospital. I was booed and called a mafioso who wanted to turn their hospital into a brothel. The first demand of the then council after the privatisation was to return about CZK 5 million. CZK, which they had previously given to the hospital's former management.
However, a lot of time has passed since then. I believe that I have proved to the last disbelieving Thomases that I care very much about making Beroun and Hořovice hospitals into top-class medical facilities. I am the employer of about a thousand workers in the Beroun region who can do their work in a very pleasant environment. However, this is not always matched by relations with the Beroun and, in particular, the Hořovice municipality. In the latter case, the turning point came after the Hořovice municipal elections last October. The positive approach of the new mayor, Jiří Peřina, and the very popular deputy mayor, who is also our employee, Jana Šrámková, in the matter of solving the pressing problem of the car park, suggest this.
You have to respect the various state standards. Are there any that you consider nonsensical, inadequate, or detrimental to you as a business? E.g. employee pay regulations, insurance company health care scores, etc.?
S.Z.: Perhaps every area of public life is burdened with bureaucratic nonsense. However, nowhere is the contradiction so obvious and so glaring as in the area of health care. Doctors are more concerned with filling in various forms and charts than with treating patients. I do not wish to question the need for detailed medical records, but alongside the barest of agendas there are hundreds of nonsensical regulations, instructions and guidelines. To study and implement them, we slowly need more administrative forces than medical staff. On the other hand, however, I must say that the Czech healthcare system is one of the world's leaders. Unfortunately, we are not succeeding in changing the mindset of many people who think that health care must always be provided, but they do not have to pay for it. There is also constant and long-standing talk about the need to rationalise the network of healthcare providers.
I've heard it said that with the investment in the mountains, the government is not going to be able to make a difference. ...because everything is going your way. Is that true?
S.Z.: 2015 will be the year of completion of the long-term reconstruction process of the hospital in Hořovice. After six years of repairs or additions and investing tens of millions, perhaps every unbiased observer will acknowledge that the hospitals in Hořovice and Beroun have made further big steps towards transforming themselves into modern, highly equipped medical facilities whose fame goes far beyond the borders of Berounsko and is, without exaggeration, one of the best in the Czech Republic.
What do you think, do Czechs take enough care of their health?
S.Z.: It depends on who... In general, Czechs are doing more sports and in recent years they are also more concerned about healthy eating. But a healthier lifestyle also costs more money. I am well aware that many poor or elderly people simply cannot afford a healthier lifestyle. However, I must also say that many insurance companies, but also we in hospitals, are setting up a number of educational projects aimed at early prevention of various diseases. These projects do not require any financial participation from citizens, only their interest in maintaining good health.
Do you have experience with alternative medicine ev. with healing? And your opinion about them?
Z.S.: I have no experience and I don't want to have any.
Can you tell us a little about your private life? Are you married? Do you have children? Are you a citizen of the Czech Republic or do you have dual citizenship?
S.Z.: Yes, I have been happily married to my Czech wife Líba for almost two decades. We have two daughters together, 17-year-old Maruska and 9-year-old Sofia. Although I have spent most of my adult life in the Czech Republic, I have not considered acquiring Czech citizenship. Since last year, the new Czech Civil Code has allowed the institution of dual citizenship, but it requires a number of papers and certificates. So I have to overcome my aversion to bureaucracy and put together all the required paperwork to complete my application for Czech citizenship.
How do you view the current victory of the left in Greece? Are you following the events in your original homeland? Would you like to return there permanently one day?
S.Z.: I have been experiencing the events in Greece very intensively in recent years. Perhaps it is because my parents and most of my relatives still live there. I also visit different Greek destinations with my family several times a year and listen to people's stories about their problems. I see the renewal of the political elite in Greece as a sign of fatigue from the harsh effects of the crisis. On the other hand, I am very reticent about the expectations that the new left-wing government has raised among most of my fellow countrymen.
What positives would you transfer from Greece to us and from the Czech Republic to Greece?
S.Z.: If I could, I would move from Greece to the Czech Republic more sunshine, more smiles, stronger family ties and excellent Greek cuisine, which despite the crisis has no competition in the world. From the Czech Republic to Greece I would move a sense of discipline and planning in the execution of work tasks and life in general.
Your message to the readers of Podbrdské noviny?
S.Z.: Enjoy life more, laugh more.
