Healthcare research yields practical results. However, the Ministry does not monitor its impact
PRESS RELEASE ON AUDIT NO 25/13 – 7 September 2026
State-funded healthcare research yields tangible results in practice. However, the Ministry of Health (MoH) has long failed to evaluate the actual impact of the research it supports. These findings come from an audit by the Supreme Audit Office (SAO), which examined more than CZK 9 billion allocated to healthcare research and development between the years 2020 and 2024.
Applied health research focuses on new procedures and methods that can be used in diagnosis, treatment, or the improvement of health care. The SAO audited 41 projects and found that the results of 37 of them were demonstrably applied in practice or served as the basis for further scientific research. Support was provided for projects dealing, for example, with new biomarkers for inherited metabolic disorders, non-invasive diagnosis of lung cancer, early detection and targeted rehabilitation for Parkinson’s disease, the use of fish collagen in the construction of implants and as a drug carrier, as well as a number of other projects.
The results also included scientific publications, which represent internationally recognised outputs of applied healthcare research and help to bring new findings into clinical practice, enabling patients to benefit from the results of the research more swiftly. During the period under review, the MoH allocated CZK 5.4 billion to specific research projects (targeted funding) and spent a further CZK 3.6 billion on institutional support for research organisations.
The SAO checked that the selection of projects carried out by the Czech Health Research Council was conducted transparently, and that the audited recipients had used the provided funds in compliance with the terms and conditions of the subsidy.
However, the audit also revealed systemic shortcomings on the part of the Ministry of Health. For example, the MoH had not assessed whether the research support programmes were meeting their set objectives, nor had it monitored how research findings were being applied in healthcare. Moreover, it had failed to fulfil its statutory obligation to continuously assess the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of public expenditure.
Furthermore, the SAO found that the Ministry had repeatedly failed to meet the statutory deadline for the disbursement of earmarked funds. Delays occurred not only in new projects but namely in the ongoing ones. Shortcomings also concerned institutional support, the level of which fluctuated significantly from year to year depending on the volume of funds allocated from the state budget, which reduced the stability and predictability of funding for research organisations.
The audit revealed that the Ministry of Health had not rectified all the findings from the SAO’s previous audit in 2019. It had failed to address five shortcomings at all and had only partially rectified a further five. Among the unfulfilled measures was the development of a methodology for assessing the benefits and impacts of completed research programmes.
During the audit, the SAO carried out an international comparison, which showed that Czech healthcare research achieves high-quality results. The proportion of publications containing an article by Czech authors in prestigious scientific journals reached more than 52% in 2023.
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office