Critical situation in the Czech Republic.

• Tenlastelegging: International Midwifery

Zuzana Stromerova, of the Czech Association of Midwives, writes: `Dear friends, greetings from Prague. We have a desperate situation in recent months, concerning the law which will regulate the midwifery profession in future'.

She describes the situation in brief:

* Some doctors intentionally block communication with midwives who are members of the Czech Association of Midwives. Their lobby is so intensive, that health insurers do not want to make contracts with midwives

* The Ministry of Health has stopped communication with Ivana Konigsmarkova--the president--who has been told: `... nobody is willing to talk to you!' by the chief of nursing department of the Ministry of Health

* Three new healthcare laws are under discussion and many doctors wish to put in clauses that would forbid midwives to do the physiological birth independently, especially out of...