Emergency service: 9 hours waiting time in Hungary

Even though a 77 years old cardiopathic lady was taken to the hospital by ambulance, her waiting time exceeded 9 hours in the emergency department – according to 24.hu. As we already reported, there is an ever-growing labour shortage in many sectors of Hungarian health care. This is because the staff is overworked and underpaid, so many leave the country to work for better wages in Western-European countries. Experts say that the most important problem is that the Hungarian health care system is remarkably underfunded. According to the Hungarian Medical Chamber, the health care system in Hungary needs at least 6-700 billion HUF (EUR 2.25M).

The Hungarian health care system is devastated

As we already reported, most of the nurses have two or three jobs to pay the bills. As a result, those who remain in Hungary and do not leave to the West are tired. However,

their tiredness can threaten proper health care service.

Even though the government says that the situation is getting better, this claim does not meet the general experience of the patients. Waiting lists are long, the debts of the hospitals are gigantic, and according to an official report leaked in 2016

two-third of the hospitals should be closed because of outdated medical technology, financial shortage and the lack of qualified doctors.

Waiting time became unbearably long

Thus, it is not surprising that a 77-year-old, cardiopathic lady had to wait for 9 hours in the emergency department of Gyula Kenézy Hospital in Debrecen. She had double pneumonia, and her family doctor sent her to the hospital where she arrived at 7 pm. She was accompanied by one of her neighbours, Zoja Rákóczi who said that

they had to wait almost 10 hours without eating or drinking anything.

The old lady tolerated the situation very bad, “she cried like a little child.” She added that there were people who have been already waiting since the morning. There was a couple who has been waiting since 3 pm. Furthermore, there was a middle-aged gentleman who has been waiting for 10 hours – added Mrs Rákóczi.

They called the old lady approximately at 4 am the next day, and she was not let home after the medical examination. According to the RTL Klub – reporting about the case -, the lady received infusion and has already got better.

The hospital stated that 102 patients arrived that day. They added that the sequence of their medical examination is based on medical state, not on the sequence of arrival.

Source: 24.hu, Daily News Hungary