Česky
How did covid-19 affect AKESO Holding's performance last year and how did the first half of 2021 look like?
I don't think it had a big impact. We have taken all necessary measures to prevent the downturn. In 2020, we were at 90 percent of production compared to the previous year, and now in the first half of the year it has returned to normal.
Did your people also get special rewards for managing covid-19?
The state decided to financially reward the efforts of the health workers, so all the money we got from the insurance companies was distributed among the health workers. In addition, at AKES, we gave everyone an across-the-board pay raise from August 1. When we saw the consistency, hard work and dedication of the staff at our facilities, we wanted to reward them with something more lasting. At this point, I think we have the best paid medical staff in the country.
You presented a plan for a pandemic hospital to Prime Minister Babiš. When will you start building it and will the state or the region support you in any way?
We have a building permit, we have concluded contracts with companies for excavation work and we have a team ready. We will start construction in a few days. For now, we are financially on our own and we have calculated that we will have enough money for the excavation and the rough construction. It will take about a year and a half and then we will see. We have a pre-approved loan for this purpose, and we are negotiating with the European Investment Bank.
The rough construction of the Mental Rehabilitation Centre is already underway in Beroun, when do you plan to start operations?
In Beroun, the realistic date for completion and opening is the end of 2022, or early 2023. So far we are building from our own resources without loans, but we probably won't be able to do it all financially and we will use a loan for completion.
You certainly can't do without psychiatric specialists and a number of other professions...
In the next three years we will need between 1,300 and 1,500 new employees and we are doing our best to make ourselves more attractive to employees. But we don't buy names, we don't need celebrities, we need experts who understand the subject matter. We already have a few associate professors, a few professors, but don't look for sensational names.
You've been on social media a lot lately, is that for recruitment?
For a long time we didn't have anything to show, now we feel like we do, so we decided to show a small part of what we've done to the world. We've started using social media and we want to attract new people that way too.
All the hospitals are reporting staff shortages, you're going to need hundreds more staff. Where does AKESO stand as an employer in terms of salaries and benefits?
We don't have a high turnover in the long term, it's always a few people a year. We try to take care of our employees in general. From the first of September we are opening a new kindergarten in Beroun for 60 children. We have built 100 apartments and are preparing another 135. We have a completely new collection of clothes for our employees, we have renovated the changing rooms in the hospitals, and we try to use the best materials. We are improving the quality of food in cooperation with chef Ondrej Slanina. We help our people in a long-term and systematic way. I believe that if an employee is satisfied, it will show in their behaviour and we can provide even better service. Healthcare is not about buildings or machines, it's about people. You can build the best hospital, but if you put an unhappy worker in there, it's all for nothing.
The big topic now is the digitisation of healthcare, what are you doing and planning in this area?
Digitalisation is very much on the agenda in healthcare already and will be even more important in the years to come. It is a key topic. We have large teams of programmers because there is a lack of quality solutions for healthcare on the market. We are going our own way, we are developing our own software, we want paperless hospitals and clinics. We are now building a data security centre in Butovice, specialised for healthcare. It will be operational within two years.
You have strengthened the management of AKESO holding with several new faces, you have won the Deloitte award for the best managed companies.
This is the second time we have won this award. We have now recruited several project managers for specific projects and we will continue to do so. Then we'll come up with another project for them to lead. It takes time to get used to our culture, mindset and other things, and we don't have that much time to train new employees all the time. You don't walk away from us and I like to say that only God has the right to take people away from us (smile).
How do you feel about the government's plans for a large cancer centre?
There are relatively enough such centres. My opinion is that if there is to be one, another one should disappear, one that is not of high quality. It depends whether it will be just a classical facility or whether experimental things will be done there as well. We shall see exactly how Mr Babiš wants to do it.
Source: EURO, 3 September 2021 [modified]
