The Beginnings of Hospice Care in the Czech Republic

The aim of this paper is to review the situation in communist and post-revolutionary Czechoslovakia in the area of palliative care. It will familiarize readers with the enormous efforts of two big personalities in the history of Czech health care: Marie Opatrná and Marie Svatošová, who tried to change the old and inconvenient Soviet health care system and make the care of terminal and dying people more human. At the end, it will present some challenges which the current Czech hospice care is confronted with.