[20 years of the subdepartment of medical law at the Institute for Graduate Education of Physicians and Pharmacists in Prague].

Twenty years ago the subchair of medical law of the Institute for Postgraduate Medical and Pharmaceutical Training was established. Already then it was clear that doctors should be more familiar with selected legal problems concerning their profession. In the course of the 20 years' existence of the subchair an integrated system of postgraduate training of doctors in legal problems was created. It comprises the demands included in the syllabus of specialization training grade I and to a greater extent grade II, includes a wide range of selected lectures for the practical needs of doctors with various assignments with a different syllabus depending on the discipline, and intensive training of public health officers. It comprises also information of doctors various disciplines (in particular senior workers) on novelties in the legal code and its application in the health services. Since the establishment of the subchair its important tasks include also the training of lawyers engaged in the health services. The aim is to ensure a high standard of training of these workers and a uniform interpretation and application of legal norms in the field.