Adam Vojtěch (born 2 October 1986) is a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

politician and lawyer who served as

Minister of Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare spending and other social security services. Some governments have separate ministers for mental heal ...

from 13 December 2017 to 21 September 2020, in both the

first First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

and

second The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of U ...

cabinets of Prime Minister

Andrej Babiš Andrej Babiš (; born 2 September 1954) is a Czech businessman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, prime minister of the Czech Republic from 2017 to 2021. He previously served as the Finance Minister of the Cze ...

, and then for a second time from May until December 2021. He was a 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 ...

from

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

until 2021.

Early life and education

In 2005, Vojtěch reached the semi-finals of ''Česko hledá SuperStar'', the Czech version of the ''Idol'' franchise. Vojtěch graduated from the faculty of social studies of

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

in Prague in 2009, with a degree in media and communication studies. After a period of study at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

, he returned to study at Charles University's faculty of law, and again at the faculty of social sciences. Since 2017 he has been associated with the university's First Faculty of Medicine.

Early career

Vojtěch was head of the Všehrd Lawyers' Association from 2010–12, before working as a lawyer for Mafra, the media group that is a subsidiary of Babiš'

Agrofert Agrofert is a Czech Conglomerate (company), conglomerate holding company headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic. It operates agriculture, Food industry, food, Chemical industry, chemical, construction, logistics, forestry, Energy industry, energy ...

business empire. From 2014 to 2017 Vojtěch worked as Babiš' private secretary while he was Minister of Finance.

Political career

Early political career

Since 2015, Vojtěch has been the chairman of the supervisory board of the state-owned enterprise State Printer of Cenin. In September 2016, the Czech government appointed him a member of the board of directors of the General Health Insurance Company (VZP), a position he held until January 2018. In March 2021, Vojtěch became the chair of the VZP board, but left in May due to his re-appointment as a minister. Vojtěch was a member of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) from 2012 to 2018, though he has also said he suspended his membership in 2014. In June 2018, his ODS membership was canceled by the party due to his cooperation with the Communist Party in the framework of the Second Cabinet of Andrej Babiš.

Minister of Health

In the 2017 Czech parliamentary election, Vojtěch was elected as a non-party representative for the ANO 2011 movement as a deputy in the South Bohemian Region, from third place on the candidate list. He was subsequently named as Minister of Health in the First Cabinet of Andrej Babiš, appointed to the position on 13 December by president

Miloš Zeman Miloš Zeman (; born 28 September 1944) is a Czech politician who served as the third president of the Czech Republic from 2013 to 2023. He also previously served as the prime minister of the Czech Republic from 1998 to 2002. As leader of the Cze ...

. At the end of June 2018, Babiš named Vojtěch as minister of health again in his second government, and he was appointed by Zeman on 27 June. Vojtěch resigned as Minister of Health in September 2020 due to a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the country. At a press conference following the announcement of Vojtěch's resignation, Babiš said that Vojtěch had brought decency to Czech politics. Epidemiologist Rastislav Maďar stated that Vojtěch was one of the best post-recession ministers of health.

Post-Babiš premiership

After the resignation of Petr Arenberger in May 2021, Vojtěch was appointed Minister of Health for a second time. He was appointed as the Czech ambassador to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

on 14 February 2022.

Criticism

At the end of December 2017, during an appearance with Jaromír Soukup on TV Barrandov, Vojtěch was asked to give a male assessment of the physical attractiveness of selected Czech female politicians on a magnetic bulletin board. His answers were subsequently criticised by

Markéta Pekarová Adamová Markéta Pekarová Adamová (born 2 October 1984) is a Czech Republic, Czech politician who is the President of the Chamber of Deputies (Czech Republic), President of the Chamber of Deputies since 2021 and leader of TOP 09 since 2019. She has bee ...

and Olga Richterová. As department secretary of the Ministry of Finance led by Andrej Babiš, Vojtěch collaborated with businessman , who was accused in June 2019 of manipulating hospital orders. Vojtěch confirmed this cooperation in interviews for

Czech Radio Czech Radio (, ČRo) is the public radio broadcaster of the Czech Republic operating continuously since 1923. It is the oldest national radio broadcaster in continental Europe and the second-oldest in Europe after the BBC. Czech Radio was esta ...

. Through Horáček, he had received information about topics including the management of

Czech Television Czech Television ( ; abbreviation: ČT) is a public television broadcaster in the Czech Republic, broadcasting six channels. Established after breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1992, it is the successor to Czechoslovak Television founded in 1953. H ...

and the income of the wife of ČSSD Minister of Health, Svatopluk Němeček.

Personal life

In 2019, Vojtěch married his long-time girlfriend, Olga. Their son, Matyáš Antonín, was born in September 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vojtech, Adam 1986 births Living people Health ministers of the Czech Republic 21st-century Czech lawyers ANO (political party) Government ministers Charles University alumni Politicians from České Budějovice Civic Democratic Party (Czech Republic) politicians Members of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic (2017–2021) Ambassadors of the Czech Republic to Finland