Human Rights Watch: the deficiencies of the Hungarian health care system endanger lives

The HRW said that Hungarian hospitals are not well-sterilized, they do not separate COVID-19 suspicious cases from the others, and it often happens that patients must bring essential sanitary articles to the institutions. They added that Hungary has good numbers regarding the coronavirus epidemic, but the system needs fundamental changes to avoid more significant problems during the second wave of the infection.

According to hvg.hu, the latest report of the HRW asserts that the Hungarian health care system endangers lives. They added that the government neglected the sector in the last few years and, as a result, the epidemic hit it hard.

• Hungary keeps many asylum seekers stranded on border – HRW report
• Human Rights Watch would expel Fidesz from the European People’s Party
• Human Rights Watch criticises Hungary over conditions of migrants

They found in many Hungarian hospitals that there is no soap and hand sanitiser, nobody tidies well enough the corridors and the rooms, employees and patients do not get the required hygiene equipment. Furthermore, there are not enough rooms to separate those COVID-19 suspected patients from others.

Tom Porteous, deputy program director of the Human Rights Watch, said that “people should not fear that going to the hospital will expose them to conditions that will make them sicker.” He added that “although it seems Hungary has not been hit as hard as other European countries by the novel coronavirus, the virus has not disappeared, and Hungarian authorities

need to put in place reforms urgently

and to invest in protecting patients and health workers from infection or death.”

Doctors and healthcare experts explained to HRW that the capacity for screening the coronavirus is not enough, and it was challenging to test people. Furthermore, sometimes hospitals were not able to separate the infected or the suspected people from healthy patients. They added that it happened many times that hospitals lacked necessary hygiene equipment, so they or their families had to bring soap, sanitisers and detergent into the institutions.

You can read the full report about Hungary HERE.

Source: hvg.hu