Hungarians spend the most time in hospitals in the EU

An average Hungarian spends almost ten days in hospitals in a year by which the Hungarian rate is the worst in the EU.

Among the EU member countries, in the Netherlands people spend 4.5 days in hospitals while this number is 5.3 days in Bulgaria, 5.5 days in Denmark. These are the lowest data in the EU – says hvg.hu based on a new announcement of the Eurostat.

The highest number in this respect is in Hungary with an average of 9.8 days per capita. Hungary is followed by the Czech Republic (9.6 days) and France (9.1 days).

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Eurostat says that even though there were more female patients in the EU, in most of the member states, men spent more time in hospitals than women.

Based on a report of the European Commission, it seems that the health conditions of the Hungarians are among the worst ones in the EU. Hvg.hu says that

it is like Hungarians “would like to die earlier than they should.”

This is because many Hungarians smoke, drink, but they do not move. Therefore, it is not surprising that most of the deaths are caused by the unhealthy lifestyle the average Hungarian conducts. Based on the report of the European Commission, there are vast differences between different groups of society. For example, those men who have a degree live 12 years longer than those who obtained a lower qualification. 

Meanwhile, the government has centralised the Hungarian healthcare system, but the money they spend on health care per capita is among the lowest ones in the European Union.

Therefore, it is not surprising that – as we reported before – labour shortage has been critical in the sector for years. For example, in 2018,

there were 1,700 available job vacancies in the country. 

According to the data of the Hungarian Statistical Office (KSH), the highest number of vacancies occurred in inpatient care (971), followed by outpatient treatment (459).

43% of medical job vacancies were experienced in Budapest; the capital was followed by Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok, Komárom-Esztergom and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties. Approximately 1,400 settlements (with a population of fewer than 1,000 residents) had no general practitioner in 2019. In April, infectious department of the hospital in Szolnok closed due to lack of specialists; while in February, the anaesthesia process was carried out by cardiologists in the hospital of Miskolc. In March, vascular surgeries were cancelled in Péterfy Hospital.

According to Népszava, although

250,000 health care workers are registered, only 107,000 work actively in this field.

The majority of young people are not involved in the healthcare system; they leave this field or do not even start it after graduation because many of them start to work abroad for higher wages. According to the data of the State Health Care Center (ÁEEK), the proportion of labour shortage in case of nurses is 10%, midwives 25%, paramedics 13%.

Source: hvg.hu