Fidesz accuses Budapest assembly of ordering freeze on hospital construction

Ruling Fidesz on Tuesday slammed the opposition-controlled metropolitan assembly for rejecting a proposal for a superhospital in southern Buda, saying it amounted to ordering a freeze on hospital construction.

Fidesz MP Imre Pesti told a press conference that the left-liberal city councillors were “playing with other people’s lives”, adding that “they couldn’t care less about the health of Budapest residents.”

“Preventing the construction of the hospital is tantamount to a crime,” Pesti insisted.

Last Wednesday, the assembly rejected an amendment proposal submitted by the Fidesz-Christian Democrat alliance on the construction of the southern Buda hospital. Instead it first approved a proposal submitted by the opposition that would have diverted funding earmarked for that hospital to Budapest’s St. Imre and St. János Hospitals. Socialist Party councillor Csaba Horváth later submitted a proposal that was approved for funding the two hospitals without any mention of diverting the funding for the superhospital.

Pesti said

the leftist opposition had regularly criticised the government in recent years for “neglecting” health care and had promised to undertake major developments when they returned to power.

Meanwhile, he said, the government had been spending an annual 450-550 billion forints (EUR 1.3-1.6bn) on upgrading hospitals around the country. It also aims to spend 700 billion forints on upgrading the health infrastructure of Budapest and its agglomeration, he added.

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Source: mti