HR minister: Government to launch hospital consolidation, wage hike

The government will raise trained hospital workers’ wages by 72 percent over a period of four years and launch a consolidation scheme to tackle hospitals’ debts, the human resources minister said in an interview published in the Monday issue of daily Magyar Idők.

Miklós Kásler said earlier that health-care workers concerned will first see their wages increase by 8 percent from July 2019, then by 14 percent from January 2020. Wages will increase again by 20 percent in November of that year and then by another 30 percent in 2021, the minister said in November.

He told the paper that since 2010 doctors’ wages had gone up by 150 percent and trained hospital staff’s wages had doubled.

Next to the wage hike, the government also plans housing help to make the profession attractive to young workers, Kásler said.

Regarding the consolidation of hospitals’ financial situation, Kásler said the government aimed for a long-term solution while putting the treatment of all patients first. A financial review of hospitals “cannot go the way as that of a factory”, he added.

He said that after reviewing the finances of the 15 most indebted hospitals, healthcare institutions “will have to get people in a position to supervise them”.

The government has also decided to raise the budget of the national health insurance provider by 34 billion forints (EUR 105.2m), Kásler said.

He said that the number of doctors and nurses seeking employment abroad had significantly dropped over the past few years.

Featured image: MTI

Source: MTI