How much time do patients wait for surgery in Hungary?

Many people wait for different kinds of surgeries in the country. Some of them are regular ones, but there are complicated and dangerous surgical procedures as well. The Tasks of the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary’s recent statistics and survey revealed that one patient has to wait at least two years for surgery. If someone does not have time to wait there are private clinics and hospitals available, but unfortunately, hardly anybody in Hungary can afford to pay for those.

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Patients who need a hip replacement have to wait approximately 291 days, and there are 5,153 Hungarian residents on the waiting list, so this time can easily increase – reports Pénzcentrum. This means that the estimated median of these data is 164 days of waiting at least. The least amount of time patients need to wait is 117 days in the southern regions of the country.

The first region on the list is the North-Hungarian with 577 days of waiting.

People with gallstones have to wait approximately 87 days. Many Hungarian patients wait for endoscopy surgeries – to remove gallstones – across the country, at least 750. In the southern regions, the waiting time for this surgery is 19 while in Western-Hungary it can increase until 123 days which can be fatal for patients. If the milestones are removed with the regular surgical procedure, which is a more complicated one, patients wait for an estimated 129 days until the actual procedure.

In the Western-Hungarian region, the situation regarding regular gallstone surgery is the best in the country, only 3 days of waiting. On the contrary, in the North-Hungarian region, people wait for 217 days.

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Another common health problem in Hungary are the illnesses and symptoms with the knees. Many people wait for a knee replacement in the country and the waiting period is exactly one year. Approximately 6,021 people need this kind of procedure as soon as possible. In North-Hungary people wait for an average of 646 days for a knee replacement. This is also the region where the most Hungarians die of chronic diseases.

Cataract (clouding in the lens of the eye which leads to a decrease in vision) is a common problem in Hungary for many years. Half of the Hungarian people suffer from this disease and above 75 years more than 70% of the residents which means approximately 1 million Hungarians, but currently, only 11,200 people are on the hospitals’ waiting lists. Patients wait for an average 85 days but in North-Hungary even more, approximately 127 days.

The best solution would be to complete these surgeries in time, but this option is only available at private clinics and hospitals which are highly expensive and not every Hungarian resident can afford it.

A hip replacement costs 5,200 EUR, but there are clinics where this amount of money is double. Knee replacements are also expensive: there are surgeries for 5,200 EUR but even for 6,000 EUR. The most costly knee replacement costs 8,400 EUR. Gallstone and cataract surgeries cost 670 EUR at least.

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Source: www.penzcentrum.hu