Episode 36: A Conversation with General Practitioner Bohumil Seifert, MD, PhD, Assoc. Professor, Prague, Czech Republic

The cornerstone of any healthcare system is the general practitioner or GP. In the US we’ve renamed the GP to the rather cold sounding “primary care doctor”. Perhaps because so few of us still have that old multi-year connection with our doctor or perhaps because of the way our huge health insurance companies function. In the last podcast – Episode 35 - we talked about the UK’s still ailing health system – the NHS – a year after the Labor Government took over. Not much change yet but a recently released 10 year plan envisions most standard health care centralized in neighborhoods at the GP level. Including the mushrooming varieties of medical imaging.

This doesn’t sound particularly revolutionary – especially if you live in the Czech Republic. Health care there still revolves around the general practitioner.

So we’re going to meet a long time GP in this episode – who also teaches and is involved in many international health care projects.

In addition to his MD, Dr. Bohumil Seifert also holds a PhD and is an Associate Professor at the Institute of General Practice, First Faculty of Medicine at Charles University.  He headed that department for 14 years - until 2023. Dr. Seifert now spends half his time practicing in central Prague – the Czech Republic’s capital. The rest of his time is spent in international activities and research, much of it for the World Health Organization and WONCA - the World Organization of Family Doctors. We used first names in this interview – as is my custom on this podcast.      

YouTube Episode Link:    

Dr. David Marx Episode #1  https://youtu.be/io3rVfvYgj4