Orbán cabinet deploys Hungarian paramedics in Chad despite serious labour shortage

The Hungarian government is dispatching paramedics to Chad with a monthly salary of 5 million forints (more than €13,100), despite a severe shortage of emergency medical staff at home. 

Paramedics in Hungary already face dire challenges, with far too few personnel available to cope with an overwhelming number of call-outs. Yet the Government is offering eye-watering sums to send many of them abroad on a mission. The catch: they would be serving for months in Chad, a Sahel nation long regarded as notoriously unsafe. Earlier plans to send soldiers there appear to have been abandoned after local opposition.

Hungarian paramedics may serve for EUR 13.1k/month in Chad

In March, a delegation led by government commissioner László Eduárd Máthé travelled to Chad to meet President Mahamat Idriss Déby. Their discussions centred mainly on agricultural and water-management projects. Hungary’s military attaché was also present — significant given earlier talks about deploying a Hungarian military contingent to train forces in the country. The attaché is believed to have attended President Déby’s recent military parade.

Reports suggest the operation was conceived by the Prime Minister’s son, Captain Gáspár Orbán. Despite efforts to keep the initiative under wraps, several photographs surfaced during preliminary discussions. Although Parliament had already granted approval, the military mission now appears to have been shelved. In its place, another Hungarian venture in Chad has emerged. According to a report by 444.hu and independent healthcare analyst Zsombor Kunetz, Hungarian paramedics (and doctors) are being recruited for a mission in Chad, with unprecedented salaries of 5 million forints a month on offer.

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Time is tight: the team departs on 20 December, and applications close today. The precise location of the deployment remains undisclosed, but the group will deliver medical equipment and containers, and must provide healthcare and ambulance services for civilians. Such assistance is urgently needed in the Sahel state, torn apart by civil conflict and ranked among the poorest countries in the world.

Yet Hungarian paramedics and nurses are desperately needed at home. Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó maintains the mission will not jeopardise domestic healthcare, but the figures suggest otherwise. Kunetz notes that 20 to 30 ambulance teams are dispatched to Budapest daily because there are not enough paramedics in the capital. The Ambulance Service denies any shortage, insisting that any temporary absence of volunteers will not disrupt operations. Nevertheless, 444.hu reports that even they hope to limit the number sent abroad to three or four per region — a total of 20 to 25 nationwide.

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Hungary Helps, operating under the Foreign Ministry, already runs several programmes in Chad, including healthcare, vocational training and agricultural development.

Hungarian paramedics struggle with serious problems at home

In February, Válasz Online published a detailed analysis by Anita Élő, recipient of the Bezerédj Award, laying bare the bleak situation facing Hungary’s paramedics. The country’s chronically underfunded and poorly organised healthcare system is increasingly unable to meet public needs. Patients — especially in Budapest and other major cities — frequently call ambulances simply to see a doctor, as waiting months for an appointment is untenable. This places a massive additional burden on the ambulance service, which manages to function only through enormous sacrifice.

• Click for more of our articles concerning the Hungarian healthcare system.

One example is the mayor of Martonvásár, a Fidesz–KDNP politician who recently clashed with his own party over the emergency service crisis. Of the town’s two ambulances, one is routinely dispatched to Budapest and the other to Székesfehérvár, leaving none available locally when a sudden medical emergency occurred months ago. The Ambulance Service denied the claim, but the mayor’s only “fault” was trusting what he could see with his own eyes — the ambulance station stands directly opposite the town hall.