Long covid, work ability and the possibility of patients returning to the labour market
After the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic subsided, the risk of a serious course of this disease has decreased, but the number of patients with long-term health problems as a result of COVID-19 has increased. For many patients, post-covid syndrome (so-called long covid) significantly reduces the quality of life and usually also reduces (or completely eliminates) the ability to work. However, patients with long covid are not entitled to a disability pension, so in the event of long-term effects of the disease they fall out of the system of adequate social protection.
The project therefore aims to determine how common the problem is, what is the degree of reduction in the ability to work of patients with this diagnosis, what are the possibilities for their support and the experience of Labour office workers with (re)integration of these patients into the labour market. Based on a comparison with the experience with this issue in Germany, another goal is to assess the adequacy of available measures in the Czech Republic and the need to include long covid among the recognized diagnoses for granting disability.