Opposition DK calls on government to declare health-care emergency

The leftist opposition Democratic Coalition has repeated its call on the government to declare a national health-care emergency.

At a press conference on Friday, DK lawmaker Imre László cited a report by the daily Nepszava saying that a total of 68 surgeons at the Péterfy Hospital-Clinic and Traumatology Centre and the Jenő Manninger National Institute of Traumatology have threatened to quit their jobs on Oct. 1 if the government did not deliver on its earlier promises to improve conditions.

László said that such a mass exodus would lead to a collapse of the capital’s traumatology service.

The government must acknowledge and declare that the health-care sector is in a state of emergency, he said, adding that Hungarians had a right to know this.

The government’s next steps should include wage hikes for doctors, nurses and hospital staff, along with the procurement of new hospital equipment and the settlement of hospital debts, László said.

He said the government was spending only 6.9 percent of GDP on health care compared with average EU spending of 9-10 percent.

Source: MTI