Česky
Can you count how many children you've brought into the world?
I have no idea. I recorded births as a medic - while I was in medical school. From the third year to the sixth year, when I finished medical school, I had 450.
After so many births, do you still feel the uniqueness of the moment of childbirth?
It's a unique moment. Today, most expectant mothers want to know if they're having a boy or a girl. I always ask them why they want to know when it robs them of the most beautiful part of childbirth - the moment of surprise. I understand that there are situations where we need to know if it's a boy or a girl. But in pregnancies that are physiologically fine, it's unrepeatable when parents don't know until the last moment if it's going to be a son or a daughter. And they experience a huge moment of surprise at the final birth. For me, the moment of birth is still unrepeatable.
Is that why you chose obstetrics?
Yes. When I was a medical student, I was an orderly in a maternity ward. Then I continued until my junior year on weekends to earn a few pennies. From my third year I joined the obstetrics interest group and went to serve with my senior doctor. In the summer, it was six to eight services a month, with a lot of emotional births. The others went to the seaside in Yugoslavia during the holidays, and I went to deliver babies.
Two years ago, in January, you took over from Dr. Klan. At the end of February that year, the reconstruction of the maternity ward began. Did you have a chance to comment on its design?
Yes. We met repeatedly over the projects and discussed how best to use the space. We didn't get a bigger one because it was a redevelopment of an existing maternity ward. With three birthing boxes (birthing rooms with sanitary facilities for the mother and her attendants), we were at the limit of our capacity. Therefore, we needed to expand the maternity ward with another box, which meant finding space for it at the expense of something else, but while maintaining the safety of the operation.
How are the new boxes better than the previous ones?
They are all equipped with the latest technology. All the instruments are connected to the control room. The midwives are in constant control of the babies. With the help of telemetry, they monitor the fetal and maternal condition remotely in every situation. As a result, women in labour can move freely during the first period of labour and do not have to lie on the bed.
Before 2019, you worked at Motol in Prague for 26 years. If you had the same job offer now, would you choose to accept it again?
Absolutely. I joined the renowned workplace of Chief of Medicine Aleš Klán, under whose leadership the U Sluneční brány Maternity Hospital in Hořovice has become a sought-after workplace and is the maternity hospital with the highest number of births in the region. Moreover, I work here with really nice people. The nurses, even though they are busy, have no problem smiling warmly at the patients. Patients for us are not walking diagnoses, but specific people who come in with a health problem. And we solve it professionally and with a human approach.
What kind of care do you provide at the Diagnostic Centre of Hořovice Hospital?
In our centre in Prague Butovice we provide women with comprehensive care, even during pregnancy. Most often we perform preventive examinations, but we also provide outpatient treatment of gynaecological diseases, pre-operative indicative examinations, post-operative checks of our patients and fetal screening examinations as part of prenatal diagnostics.
