Socialists demand more funds for Budapest hospital

The opposition Socialists have called on the government to withdraw 3.3 billion forints (EUR 10m) from a sports stadium project in Budapest and spend the sum on the city’s indebted military hospital (Honvédkórház).

Socialist deputy group leader Tamás Harangozó said that

the hospital’s emergency outpatient services could fail as early as next month unless radical action is taken.

Among the hospital’s problems, Harangozó mentioned unpaid overtime, a shortage of doctors, nurses, and equipment, as well as doctors in managerial positions quitting their jobs.

He insisted that the national health service was in a “critical state”, adding that the situation was even more serious in light of the “emigration crisis” caused by doctors and nurses seeking employment abroad.

Harangozó noted that the government recently allocated 543 million forints to the hospital, but the funds would not be sufficient to cover staff for their extra working hours.

As we wrote two weeks ago, the indebtedness of Hungarian hospitals grows enormously fast, by HUF 3.5 billion (EUR 10 million) each month. The Hungarian State Treasury claims that the total debt value has reached HUF 38 billion (EUR 117 million) – nevertheless, the government states that the health care system is properly financed, read more HERE.

Source: MTI