London/Prague - Once again, it is the British investigative reporters proving something is rotten in the Czech social care system.
On Tuesday night, in its flagship Ten O´Clock News program, the public broadcaster BBC showed a report which proves that the use of the infamous cage-beds continues in some of the Czech children care homes, despite the existence of a law which banned it 12 months ago.
Aktuálně.cz reported as late as April last year that many institutions still had not changed their ways. Eight months later, BBC reports the situation seems to be exactly the same.
JK Rowling did the trick
A similar undercover reporting, done for The Sunday Times, first caused an uproar in the UK in July 2004. The same month BBC Radio 4 presented their own special investigation into the use of the cage-like beds in the Czech Republic where one patient likened the device to "a cage in a zoo or a small prison".
Moved and outraged by the apparent cruelty towards the unfortunate children, JK Rowling, the world renowned author of Harry Potter stories, wrote a letter calling for an end to the practice addressed to the Czech President Václav Klaus and the then Prime Minister Vladimír Špidla.
Sorcery or not, changes promptly followed. First, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs ordered a review which showed 654 cage-beds (or net-beds) were being used at the time.
Strict conditions were then set for the use of these restrainers, advocated by some in the field as an effective tool of prevention and control of the more aggressive patients.
Finally, in January 2007 new law came into force which makes the use of the cage-like beds in the social care homes illegal. Violators run the risk of being fined by up to 250 thousand Czech crowns and having their license revoked.
Government plays dead
Minister Petr Nečas did not make himself available for the BBC team, fronted by a reporting ace Clive Myrie, who had been through wars in Kosovo and Afghanistan and traveled across South East Asia or Africa.
However, Martin Žárský, head of the Social Care Department at the ministry, who was shown the footage, promised investigation into the matter would take place.
Yet, when asked for response at a later date, the government allegedly told BBC the footage did not suggest that Czech law had been broken.
It explained that the beds shown in the report were not cages, but medically approved devices meant to protect children.
