Coronavirus – Orbán cabinet: Hungary’s protective measures successful

Hungary’s protective measures against the novel coronavirus pandemic have been successful and the number of infections and deaths have been “very favourable” compared to other countries, Minister of Human Resources Miklós Kásler said on Monday.

The government has made preparations for a worst-case scenario in order to prevent the collapse of the health-care system, he told public Kossuth Radio.

The reason hospital beds have been freed up is to enable the system to cater for every patient in case the spread of the virus gets out of control due to an unforeseeable reason, he added.

He said that a ministerial order issued on March 17 instructed hospitals to make half of their capacities available for infected patients and keep 15 percent of beds in intensive care units available. A list has been prepared by the 62 medical colleges on what surgical interventions could be delayed and this gives a detailed guideline to all hospitals, he added.

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Only those patients are allowed to be sent home who can get the required care at home,

Kásler said. He encouraged those that disagree with a hospital’s decision to consult their patients’ rights representative, the hospital management, the health state secretary’s office or the National Public Health Centre and promised that every case would be reviewed.

Commenting on remarks made in an open letter by the Hungarian Doctors’ Camber, he said all the required information had been communicated to them, press conferences had been held every day by the operative board in charge of efforts against the virus, the medical college had prepared professional guidelines, all questions of the hospitals had been answered and a central telephone number was available for any further questions.

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Source: MTI