Jihomoravian Region wants a senior home in its empty building in Brno

Study IS-ARCH s.r.o. from 2011

Brno - The South Moravian Region wants to build a senior home with special care with 100 beds in the empty building of the former blood donation station on Tomešova Street in Brno in the coming years. In addition, it is considering accommodation for the relatives of patients from the nearby Masaryk Oncology Institute, said today the Deputy Governor responsible for health and social affairs, Marek Šlapal (ČSSD), to ČTK. The estimated costs could be under 200 million crowns.

At a press conference today, MP and chairman of the parliamentary health committee Rostislav Vyzula (ANO), who was the director of the Masaryk Oncology Institute for seven years and still has part of his work commitment there as a doctor, pointed out the deteriorating buildings. "This is a building in a lucrative location, which is deteriorating. On the other hand, there is a shortage of social beds. These beds could also be used for oncology patients who, for example, come for radiation therapy and would use them as a sort of hotel for a fee," said Vyzula. He has already negotiated with the region several times, but so far without results. He wants to continue the negotiations.

The region considered renovating the building several years ago. It included it in the last electoral term among a list of planned projects for new senior homes, but so far only part has been completed. For example, a home was created in Zastávka near Brno, an extension of a home in Blansko, and this year a completely new home with 100 places in Újezd near Brno was built for nearly 160 million crowns. According to Šlapal, the projects have been delayed due to a lack of funds for their operation. "The problem is the lack of funds during a recession, which gradually impacted public budgets, the absence of guarantees for increasing expenses in the field of social services from the state, and there was also no possibility within the calls of operational programs for investments in senior homes," said Šlapal. According to him, the entire issue needs to be anchored in legislation. "It involves the fact that in the future, both health insurance companies and the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs should contribute to social-health beds. The Ministry of Labor needs to agree with the Ministry of Health," said Šlapal.

As of last year, there were almost 3000 beds in senior homes and the same number of beds in homes with special care in the South Moravian Region. However, the population is aging. Southern Moravia has nearly 1.2 million inhabitants. Currently, there are more than 210,000 people over 65 years old, and by 2050, there should be around 350,000.