Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó saved from mysterious, deadly disease

János Kóka was once branded by Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó as the most unsuccessful Hungarian economy minister ever; back in the 2000s, they were fierce political foes. The doctor-turned-businessman Kóka János now serves as president-CEO of Cellum Global Zrt. and chairman of Cellum Bulgaria’s board, while Szijjártó has repeatedly invited him along on overseas trips as part of business delegations. It recently emerged that Kóka essentially saved his life.

FM Szijjártó has wisely embraced the sound advice

Szijjártó appeared as a guest on government-aligned opinion leader Zsolt Jeszenszky’s YouTube channel, where he revealed their first chat on prevention and the vital role of screening tests, which happened during an official foreign trip. The ex-economy minister brought up the topic several times afterwards, finally persuading the foreign minister to get checked out. The hyperactive workaholic Foreign Minister was incredibly lucky to heed the advice, as doctors spotted a serious abnormality requiring immediate intervention.

According to Szijjártó, they caught the emerging crisis just in the nick of time, “when it was still possible to get out of it cleanly.” They swiftly arranged the procedure, averting disaster at the last second—a peril so grave that the minister put it bluntly: had he ignored Kóka then, they probably wouldn’t be chatting today.

Kóka, once a rival, now a friend

24.hu reports that Szijjártó repeatedly slammed Kóka—economy minister under the Gyurcsány government—as a failure and a liar. Yet after Fidesz’s 2010 supermajority, relations with the business world-returning ex-minister thawed; he joined several delegations, including entrepreneurs and even snagged a diplomatic passport. “Moreover, the state granted a 287 million forint non-refundable grant to the 3 billion forint Újbuda investment by Doktor24, the private healthcare provider in Kóka’s portfolio,” the outlet notes.

We wrote about Kóka’s private hospital plans in Budapest after the first outbreak of the coronavirus.