Audit Office’s criticism of hospitals’ financial management in ministry’s focus

The human resources ministry will look into recent findings of the State Audit Office (ASZ), according to which the financial management of some health institutions is “chaotic”.

The ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that work on an action plan concerning the financial management of hospitals had started earlier and was under way.

On Monday, ASZ head László Domokos said that many of the hospitals and clinics ASZ had audited showed a “systemic neglect of the most fundamental regulations”. He said that the hospitals often bypassed public procurement to obtain services or equipment, while the equipment or supplies purchased did not always show up in the hospital’s inventory.

“It was impossible to determine the hospital’s actual stock of certain items,” Domokos said, adding that the “severe irregularities make it unclear how much funding the health-care sector really needs”.

The Hungarian Hospital Federation (MKSZ) told daily Magyar Idők on Tuesday that it would convene an extraordinary board meeting over the matter.

The opposition LMP blamed the government for the “scandalous” situation in health care. Máté Kanász-Nagy, secretary of of the party’s national board, said that the ruling parties had created problems in the sector through cutting health spending by “hundreds of billions” of forints in the past eight years. He insisted that the GDP-health budget ratio was at a “historical low”, which makes it “impossible for hospital managers to meet the criteria” as defined by ASZ.

Featured image: www.honvedkorhaz.hu

Source: MTI