The eviction last fall of hundreds of Roma from Vsetín, east Moravia, was legal and did not violate human rights, Ombudsman Otakar Motejl said in the daily Mladá fronta Dnes March 27. Roma who had defaulted on their rent were evicted from the town and moved up to 70 kilometers (43.4 miles) away. Former Vsetín Mayor Jiří Čunek, now regional development minister, has been criticized by human rights groups for the evictions.

Prague’s Na Homolce Hospital has begun performing robot-assisted heart surgery, spokeswoman Jitka Kalousková told ČTK March 15. The head of cardiovascular surgery said robots could perform up to one-third of the hospital’s surgeries within three years. Na Homolce is the only Czech hospital performing such surgery, and the practice is rare worldwide.

Foreigners owe nearly 40 billion Kč ($1.9 billion) in unpaid medical bills to Czech hospitals, the Institute of Health Information and Statistics (UZIS) said March 26. The majority of foreigners treated were Slovak, Ukrainian, German and Vietnamese, the UZIS said.

Prague’s bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics could put it into debt for years, financial analyst Pavel Sobíšek told Hospodářské noviny March 27. The estimated 135 billion Kč cost would likely be surpassed, although Prague would benefit from improved infrastructure, Sobíšek, from HVB Bank, said. City councilors voted March 22 to officially submit Prague’s Olympic bid.