Geneticist, gynecologist and obstetrician Karel Čutka died at the age of 74. During his medical career, he contributed significantly to the development of prenatal diagnostics in South Bohemia. He was also the founder and director of the Center for Medical Genetics. Čutka succumbed to a long illness with which he had struggled in recent years.
“I will always remember my dad as a tenacious and tireless person who lived for his family and work. He perceived the need for a prenatal diagnosis center already during his work at the České Budějovice hospital, where he tried to promote this idea. He was so persistent in his efforts that it was said about him: “You can’t get rid of hunger and hunger.” his son remembers his father David.
Karel Čutka was born in Tábor in 1950. He graduated from the grammar school there and graduated from the Faculty of General Medicine of Charles University in Prague. He graduated in 1974 and obtained certification in the fields of medical genetics and gynecology and obstetrics. He began his career in the same year at the České Budějovice Hospital, first as a doctor in the women’s department, and from 1983 as head of the Department of Medical Genetics. In 1997, he founded the Center for Medical Genetics in České Budějovice, as the first private company of its kind in South Bohemia. The center focuses on prenatal diagnostics (examination of pregnant women and fetuses), clinical genetics and a laboratory of medical genetics.
The Center for Medical Genetics continues to contribute to reducing infant mortality due to prenatally diagnosed congenital malformations. Thanks to the center, South Bohemia has long had the highest rate of congenital heart defects and Down syndrome in the entire country.
In addition to the detection of congenital developmental defects of the fetus using ultrasound and genetic examination of amniotic fluid and chorionic villi, it provides genetic examination of couples with repeated miscarriages or infertility, as well as families with hereditary forms of malignant tumors and other hereditary diseases. The management of the center will now be taken over by Čutka’s son David, who is also a doctor and specialist in the fields of genetics and gynecology and obstetrics and has been involved in the development of the center for a long time.
The last farewell to Karel Čutka takes place on October 14 at 2 p.m. at the cemetery of St. Otílie in České Budějovice. The funeral service will take place in the crematorium hall.
