National Ambulance Service admits: it cannot guarantee rescue in Budapest

According to the Association of Hungarian Ambulance Workers, there are not enough professionals. That is the reason why there are more and more emergency cases where it later turns out that the ambulance did not even set off. According to the National Ambulance Service, it is not always possible for callers to accurately assess the urgency of a case.

Ambulance to Budapest from Békéscsaba?

An elderly man became ill on the street in Budapest at the end of March. Passers-by called an ambulance for him, RTL Híradó reports. One of them said help did not arrive even after several minutes. “It was about 20 minutes after the first call when we tried to call the ambulance again,” the person told RTL Híradó.

“Surprisingly, our call from Budapest was answered in Békéscsaba. There was little we could do about the situation. They were also a bit uninformed and then you get scared.” After the second call, help arrived within 10 minutes.

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No help for two hours

However, some people are not this lucky. A man in Budapest called an ambulance a few days ago on the advice of his GP. He was lying at home with a COVID infection and was finding it increasingly difficult to breathe.

“Two hours passed and no one came. I called the ambulance service. A gentleman answered and said: “Nyíregyháza, good afternoon.” I was surprised and said that an ambulance was on its way to me, what do you know about it, when will it arrive? He checked it and said they hadn’t even sent it to me yet.”

He also made a screenshot of the call list. There, it can be seen that he dialled the emergency number two hours apart. He says that at the end of the last call, he asked the emergency operator not to send an ambulance car because a friend could take him into the hospital if needed.

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Cases like these are increasingly more common

According to the vice-president of the Association of Hungarian Ambulance Workers, more and more similar cases are being reported by their colleagues, especially from Budapest.

“It has to be said: the National Ambulance Service is unable to provide its basic task of rescue in the capital. One clear proof of this is that for 10 years, units have been deployed from all over the country to reinforce the Budapest ambulance service to some extent,”

Tibor Lengyel, vice-president of the association, told RTL Híradó. The problem, he says, is that the workers are not well paid and there are not enough professionals in the system.

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