Has the ambulance service in Budapest collapsed? – spokesperson reacts
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Amid growing pressure on the ambulance service in Budapest, a recent Facebook post raised urgent questions about the city’s emergency response capabilities. A health analyst judges the National Ambulance Service harshly, while its spokesperson praises its efficiency and swiftness.
Lack of available ambulance vehicles
According to Index, on Saturday, the ambulance service in Budapest faced severe strain, leaving 35 emergency calls unattended due to a shortage of available vehicles. Notably, cases of choking were among those left on the waiting list, a troubling sign of the city’s current emergency response capacity. Health analyst Zsombor Kunetz criticised the situation as disgraceful for a major European city like Budapest, underscoring that this level of risk necessitates accountability from management. The Hungarian Ambulance Workers’ Association (MOMSZ) reported that patient delays are commonplace, often worsened by the reliance on 18 ambulance units dispatched from other regions rather than directly from Budapest.
Zsombor Kunetz criticised the recent incident as the following:
This is a level of endangerment that cannot fail to hold the management accountable, Gábor Csató, Director General, and György Pápai, Medical Director, should have been sacked yesterday! A disgrace in the middle of Europe in a city of 2 million people! And seriously, this organisation has taken over the emergency rooms.
Spokesperson reacts
Index contacted the National Ambulance Service spokesperson, Pál Győrfi, to react to the Facebook post by MOMSZ. According to Győrfi, the Facebook post shows complete ignorance or a deliberate misinterpretation of the situation. He described the incident as a smear campaign by the MOMSZ and Zsombor Kunetz. In addition, he praised the ambulance service in Budapest for being well-organised. He said:
Ambulances from the countryside around Budapest are a lot of times not available for the communities who established and pay for them, because their ambulances are in Budapest. This was personally told to me by members of the ambulance service on the countryside.