David Rath (born 25 December 1965) is a Czech

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

, former

politician A politician is a person who participates in Public policy, policy-making processes, usually holding an elective position in government. Politicians represent the people, make decisions, and influence the formulation of public policy. The roles ...

who served as Minister of Health from 2005 to 2006, and convicted criminal. He was a member of the

Czech Social Democratic Party Social Democracy (, SOCDEM), known as the Czech Social Democratic Party (, ČSSD) until 10 June 2023, is a social democratic political party in the Czech Republic. Sitting on the centre-left of the political spectrum and holding pro-European ...

(ČSSD) until 16 May 2012 when he resigned after being charged with bribery. He also served as Member of the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourb ...

(MP) from 2006 to 2013, first as representative from

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

and then from

Central Bohemian Region The Central Bohemian Region ( ; ) is an administrative unit () of the Czech Republic, located in the central part of its historical region of Bohemia. Its administrative centre is in the Czech capital Prague, which lies in the centre of the regio ...

where he was Governor between 2008 and 2012. On 23 July 2015, Rath was sentenced to 8.5 years in prison for

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

and manipulation with

government procurement Government procurement or public procurement is the purchase of goods, works (construction) or services by the state, such as by a government agency or a state-owned enterprise. In 2019, public procurement accounted for approximately 12% of GDP ...

s. Rath appealed the verdict. The appeal was rejected on 26 June 2019, but the sentence was reduced to seven years.

Medical career

Rath completed his medical degree at

Charles University in Prague Charles University (CUNI; , UK; ; ), or historically as the University of Prague (), is the largest university in the Czech Republic. It is one of the oldest universities in the world in continuous operation, the oldest university north of the ...

in 1990. He practiced internal medicine at General Teaching Hospital in Prague (Všeobecná fakultní nemocnice), and then at the Faculty Hospital at Motol (Fakultní nemocnice v Motole). Then in Kralupy nad Vltavou he worked for the Samaritan Association. He returned to Prague and joined the internal medicine faculty at Charles University in 1995. From 1998 to 2005 Rath served as the president of the Czech Doctors' Chamber (Česká Lékařská Komora, or ČLK), an umbrella organisation for all Czech physicians.

Political career

In 1994 Rath joined the Civic Democratic Party (ODS). In 1995 he formed the Medical Action Group (or Physician's Union Club) within the party, which brought in significant monetary support during the 1998 elections. As director of the Physician's Union Club Rath initiated the November 1996 doctor's strike. In 1996 he was vice-chairman of the Free Democrats – Liberal National Socialist Party coalition (SD-LSNS). In November 2005, the Prime Minister at the time, Jiří Paroubek, appointed him health minister. He was directed to fix the finances of the troubled Czech health system, and he proceeded to institute a number of radical reforms. In May 2006 Rath made international news when he traded blows with former

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a Minister (government), government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to th ...

Miroslav Macek at a dentists' conference after reportedly implying that Macek had married his wife for her money. Macek was later fined for having initiated the violence by slapping Rath on the back of the head prior to delivering a speech at the conference. In September 2006, Rath was succeeded by Tomáš Julínek as Minister of Health for the Czech Republic. Rath was then elected chairman of the Health Committee of the Czech Chamber of Deputies (lower house).

Corruption charge and conviction

In May 2012, he was arrested and charged with receiving bribes. At that time, he served both as a Member of Parliament of the Czech Republic and Governor of the

. On 23 July 2015, he was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. The verdict was appealed by Rath's defense counsel. The appeal was rejected in June 2019, but the sentence was reduced to seven years. Charges in a second bribery case are still pending.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rath, David 1965 births Living people Politicians from Prague Charles University alumni Academic staff of Charles University Czech physicians Czech Social Democratic Party MPs Health ministers of the Czech Republic Corruption in the Czech Republic Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) politicians Czech Social Democratic Party governors Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (2006–2010) Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (2010–2013) Czech politicians convicted of corruption