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When Miloš Zeman was taken to the hospital by ambulance from Lán on Sunday, Hrad promised: At two o’clock in the afternoon, the director of the Central Military Hospital in Prague will comment on the state of the president’s health.

It came true, but director Miroslav Zavoral had little to say. It’s just that the president experienced complications of chronic disease. And he assures that he is well cared for.

“Since I don’t have Mr President’s approval to tell you the diagnosis, the exact diagnosis, what he’s being treated for, I can’t do that, because I would violate the law on medical confidentiality,” said Director Zavoral. However, according to Oldřich Kužílek, co-author of the Information Act and an expert on open public administration, people have a right to basic information about the president’s health. And it is impossible to refuse it with reference to medical confidentiality. However, the law on the provision of health services mandates what is called confidentiality to doctors. However, at the same time, in one provision, it is directly considered violating if “it follows other legal regulations that data or facts can be disclosed without the patient’s consent”. And according to Kužílk’s interpretation, the EU regulation on the protection of personal data, the well-known GDPR, is just such a regulation. It said confidentiality does not apply “if necessary for reasons of significant public interest”.

“Today, the public interest dramatically exceeds the protection of personal data,” said Oldřich Kužílek in this context, referring to the fact that only the Czech Republic is after elections and it is the president who has to appoint a new prime minister.

But apart from doctors and the president’s closest associates, no one knows how serious Zeman’s condition is. Footage published in the media captured the president unconscious while being taken to the hospital, castle chancellor Vratislav Mynář explaining that the president fell asleep on his way from the residence in Lány. “The situation has reached a point where it is necessary to say whether (the president) is or will be artificial sleep during hospitalization, and if so, for how long. At least temporarily,” lawyer Tomáš Nahodil agreed, stating that it was possible to share information. base on the president’s condition without bringing hospital management or the president’s office into conflict with the law.

By the way, in 2008, Václav Klaus himself announced in the media that he would undergo eyelid surgery – which was quite superficial. Castle issued a press release about his hip surgery.

Even politicians from the coalition Spolu and STAN and Pirátů did not know whether Miloš Zeman could exercise his power, who immediately after the general election declared that they were ready to form a joint government based on a comfortable majority in the House of Representatives.

Miloš Zeman was taken to the hospital in mid-September, he was hospitalized for nine days and Castle claims that it was a planned checkup. Then the president’s spokesman, Jiří Ovčáček, promised that the people would see the head of state publicly elected. That didn’t happen — instead, Castle released several photos of the president throwing ballots into a portable ballot box. And in the evening, Ovčáček’s spokesman admitted for the first time in an interview with RadioZ that Miloš Zeman was sick.

It is not even known what exactly was behind the transport of the president to the hospital on Sunday. Based on N’s Diary for several days, the president refused the doctor’s advice to entrust himself to hospital care.

“We see what happens when someone starts to take a serious situation lightly. The state of the president is public information,” Jan Kuklík, dean of the British Faculty of Law, said on Czech television on Monday.

The director of the Central Military Hospital did not explain why he did not have the president’s approval to publish the information during the briefing on Sunday. Therefore, it is unclear whether Miloš Zeman has banned the information, or whether he is not in such a state that he can release doctors from secrecy.

List News is trying to find out if the president’s wife or daughter refuses to give informed consent. Ovčáček’s spokesman did not answer the question, instead of a specific answer, Chancellor Mynář simply wrote: “News List?” (The Chancellor only communicates with the editor via text message).

On Sunday, Prime Minister Andrej Babi came to Lánské Castle to negotiate with Miloš Zeman. Shortly after they met, according to official statements, the president was again taken to the hospital.

The prime minister did not publicly comment on Miloš Zeman’s state of health during the meeting.

Even Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček said nothing about the head of state’s state. “I don’t have more detailed information,” he said on Czech TV on Sunday night. He stated that he last spoke to Miloš Zeman on the phone last week on Wednesday. He points out that presidents are served by memory – according to Havlíček, for example, Miloš Zeman remembers exactly what they talked about two years ago.

Castle spokesman Jiří Ovčáček issued a statement on Sunday that “Mr. President now requires rest for treatment, the course and duration of which is determined by the doctor”. “During his stay at the hospital, Mr. President was provided with information services, including media monitoring, which he asked to provide every day,” said a TK spokesperson.

Jiří Ovčáček added that the president’s illness will not affect post-election negotiations. Which is also logical: the parties agree on a new government and the filling of their own ministries, according to the Constitution, they don’t need a president for that. The president appoints a new prime minister.

According to constitutional lawyer Jan Kysela, it is not important to know the immediate state of the president – whether the current president is unconscious or not. According to him, the forecast is important to know. For example, because politicians have started to talk about the possibility that the DPR will revoke the president’s powers because of his inability to carry out his duties.

“However, if someone says that a serious condition will last for three days and then pass, then there is no reason to trigger this mechanism,” Kysela said at the Ptám se já program in Seznam Zprávách.

According to the hospital, the president’s condition is stable. The hospital did not explain exactly what that meant. According to Castle, Zeman could spend up to three weeks in the hospital.