The pride of Czech medicine and the anniversary of the unique Institute for Mother and Child Care in Prague - Podolí

The Prague sanatorium in Podolí has undoubtedly written its name in golden letters in the history of our health care. Therefore, a voluminous publication has been published to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the founding of this unique Institute for Mother and Child Care, which we are commemorating this year. The book, written by a team of experts, provides a comprehensive overview of the Institute's achievements in all its various fields of activity and is an excellent proof that the saying about golden Czech hands is also true in healthcare.

The publication of almost four hundred pages opens with an introduction by the current director, doc. MUDr. Jaroslav Feyereisl, CSc. From the history of the Prague Sanatorium, which was born a hundred and ten years ago by the legendary Professor Rudolf Jedlička, who had a vision of a modern institute that would provide inpatient and outpatient care to patients from all segments of the population, with the exception of psychiatric and infectious diseases. Despite various historical vicissitudes, including the Second World War, the Podolsk sanatorium has, over the years of its professional development and the search for the most appropriate use, specialised in extraordinary specialist care in the field of gynaecology and obstetrics, and has permanently entered the public consciousness as a remarkable medical facility, which is still true today.

Associate Professor Feyereisl is complemented by his text by Assoc. PhDr. Ludmila Hlaváčková, CSc. Drahomír Suchánek, PhDr. Drahomír Suchánek, another member of the author team, focuses on the history of the Institute for Mother and Child Care in Prague - Podolí in the period 1945 - 2000. He concludes his excursion with a table with the names of the directors of the Institute of Parent and Child Care between 1951 and 2004. The author's baton is then taken over by Prof. Ladislav Krofta, M.D., CSc.,MBA in the chapter Science and Research in the Institute of Maternity and Child Care, refreshed with medallions of leading experts and directors of the Institute. In the following chapters, of which there are nineteen in total, other capacities take turns with their insightful professional contributions. Doctors, women doctors and even the Podolia Heart or non-physicians of the Institute of Medical Research. The publication has a wealth of illustrative material, including charts, tables and photographs.

The last word from the director

After the introduction in the book, this logically belongs to the man who has been managing and building the IPMD for the last twenty-five years according to his own ideas and his foreign experience. In his concluding words of the director doc. MUDr. J. Feyereisl, CSc. says, among other things. This publication presents a comprehensive view of the results achieved in all individual areas of the Institute for Mother and Child Care. The year 2024 is important to me for many reasons. I have reached the age of 70 and the time has come to pass the torch of leadership to the Institute, which just this year celebrates 110 years since its founding by Professor Jedlička. I am pleased to say that at the Institute for Maternal and Child Care we have top doctors who are recognised experts, not only within the Czech Republic, but are also recognised and positively evaluated in world forums. Thanks to them, the Institute is a renowned workplace that is sought after not only by medical students but also by doctors in their postgraduate studies. And it is not only our Czech students and doctors, but also foreign ones... The team of nurses also works excellently and many nurses have developed into specialists here, without whom the Institute could not function. Last but not least, I am also grateful to the non-medical staff, whose support is essential for the running of the Institute..."

Outreach activities

Radim Uzel (1940-2022), a gynaecologist and sexologist, was one of the employees of the Institute, who had his office and consulting room there. This honorary chairman and member of the scientific council of the Society for Family Planning and Sex Education, also a university teacher, was, among other things, significantly involved in the issue of sex education of youth in the extremely popular movement of the so-called Independent Erotic Initiative. It remains to add that the publication 110 Years Under the Walls of Vyšehrad was published by the publishing house Education and Sport for Self-Consciousness as its sixth volume in the series. Editor František Mareš, demanding linguistic proofreading by doc. Petr Žantovský.

Ivan Cerny