Hungarian government spent three times more on stadiums than on hospitals

As we already reported, the Hungarian health care system struggles with many problems. One of them is the lack of money. According to the Hungarian Medical Chamber, the Hungarian health care system needs at least 6-700 billion HUF (2.25M). According to zoom.hu, the government has spent altogether 114.45 billion forints (EUR 366M) on hospital improvement since 2010. However, the sum spent on building large and representative stadiums was three times bigger, more than 350 billion forints (EUR 1.12 billion) in the last eight years.

Healthcare: government communication does not meet public opinion

After its defeat in Hódmezővásárhely, the government tries to communicate not only its fight against the so-called Soros-plan but also its achievements in the last eight years. For example,

government-close Magyar Idők published a long list about the successes of the government.

Besides, another list appeared which contains the names and photos of the hospitals the government restored. This was already shared 5,000 times on Facebook and also includes the sums of the financial support.

According to that list, zoom.hu calculated the amount of financial support provided by the government for hospital improvement. At first sight, one might think that the 114,45 billion HUF (EUR  336M) is an adequate allowance. However, the overall view is very different.

Firstly, at least

6-700 billion additional support is needed in the Hungarian health care.

Without that sum it cannot function properly – states the Hungarian Medical Chamber. Furthermore, the general experience of the patients regarding the Hungarian health care system and the hospitals is disappointing. This is because the waiting lists are long, the debts of the hospitals are gigantic, and according to an official report leaked in 2016 two-thirds of the hospitals should be closed because of outdated medical technology,

financial shortage and the lack of qualified doctors.

Stadiums instead of hospitals

According to a 2017 summary of zoom.hu, the government spent at least 350 billion HUF (EUR 1.12 billion) on building or improving stadiums. Besides, that sum already increased thanks to a recent decision of the government about helping out Nyíregyháza’s stadium with 10 billion HUF (EUR 32M).

To make matter worse, the biggest stadium project, the Puskás Stadium needed more than 200 billion forints which is twice the amount of the biggest hospital improvement project.

Moreover, the government

spent mostly EU-funds on hospitals.

According to zoom.hu, at least half of the 114.45 billion HUF was EU-fund.

In contrast, 95% of the money spent on stadiums was direct state support. The remaining 5% are those billions that is paid by companies as corporate tax for sports sponsorship.

On the cover: the new stadium of VASAS under construction in February.

Source: zoom.hu