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The Era of Reorganisations (1949-1989)
In 1949 the NIPH was reorganised under law no. 70/1949 and renamed as the National Health Institute. Its headquarters remained in Prague, with a regional institute for Slovakia in Bratislava and branches in other major cities.
The Institute was divided into five departments. Each department had a chief who independently led his section and was directly answerable to the Ministry of Health. The head of the administrative and economic department was accountable directly to the director of the Institute.
The director of the National Health Institute in Prague and head of department II for research in nutrition and foodstuffs was Prof. Vilém Hons, MD. The head of department I for environmental research was Prof. Milos Kredba, MD, department III for microbiology and epidemiology was led by Doc. Karel Raška, MD, department IV for pharmaceutical research was led by Prof. Eduard Skarnitzl, PhD and the head of department V for health education and training was Dr M. Klímová-Fugnerová.
In 1949 the department for manufacture of sera and vaccines became independent of the Institute and continued its activities as the National Manufacturer of Sera, later called Biogena and Sevac.
From 1949 onwards branches of the Institute were set up in regional towns, up to a total of 25.
In 1952, an edict issued by the ministry of health (no. 30, dated 17 January 1952 and active from 1 January 1952) transferred control of these branches to the local national committees as hygiene and epidemiological posts; a further edict from 4 June 1952 dissolved the National Health Institute (valid from 1 May 1952). At the same time the edict established the Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, Institute of Hygiene and the National Institute for Research and Control of Drugs. A fourth institute was created in 1962, the Institute of Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Diseases, based in a new building on the grounds of the defunct National Institute of Health.
On 1 January 1953 the department of veterinary hygiene was placed under the control of the Ministry of Agriculture. The ministry of Health decreed on 8 September 1952 (edict no. 243/1393/52) the establishment of independent institutes for medical training and public health organisation: these were not based on the premises of the former NIH. The independent institutes existed until 1971 when they were integrated into a single organisation, the Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (IHE). Prof. Frantisek Janda, MD, became its new director. In 1980 he was replaced by academic Bohumir Rosický.
