Hungarian hospitals in sky-high debt: serious medicine shortage may come

The Hungarian Institute of Medical Rehabilitation (Országos Mozgásszervi Intézet) only receives medication when payment is made in cash. In another Budapest hospital, surgeries faced delays due to equipment not arriving on time. The root cause? The sky-high debt of Hungarian hospitals.

According to RTL Klub, Hungary’s most popular commercial TV channel, the debt of the Hungarian hospitals is worryingly high. According to Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, it reached HUF 93 billion (EUR 246.5 million) in November.

László Rásky, the secretary of the Association of Medical Devices Manufacturers, highlighted that surgeries had to be postponed due to issues with medical equipment or a shortage of medicine.

Mr Gulyás said the government has decided to settle the hospitals’ debt, but time is running out. By the end of this December, the Hungarian healthcare sector’s debt will surge to HUF 130 billion (EUR 344.6 million), necessitating urgent financial assistance.

Mr Rásky emphasised that the cabinet must clear the debts of all Hungarian hospitals, including the university units

Ongoing talks on next year’s pay hikes for Hungarian nurses

Talks are ongoing on the details of the next pay rise nurses are scheduled to receive in the spring of 2024. The interior ministry revealed that healthcare professionals can anticipate an additional wage hike in March, on top of the 18% increase from July. This second phase aims to bring the average base salary of healthcare professionals to at least 37% of doctors’ average base salary.

Péter Takács, the state secretary for health care, has been in talks with representatives of the Democratic Union of Hungarian Social and Health Care Workers (MSZ EDDSZ) and the Independent Trade Union of Ambulance Workers (MOSZ). The government seeks input from the unions when devising the details of the regulations, advocating for the introduction of salary bands beyond the current fixed pay scale based on professional advancement.

The 2023 central budget has allocated 50 billion forints (EUR 131.9m) for wage hikes in the healthcare sector.

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