PM’s Office: Government-mandated hiring freeze doesn’t affect hospitals

A hiring freeze imposed by the government in the public administration sector does not affect hospitals or social institutions, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said on Thursday.

The government’s aim was to suspend recruitment in public administration, but no other sectors, Gergely Gulyás told a regular press briefing.

Commenting on reports of a hiring freeze in place in the health-care sector, Gulyás said health-care institutions were free to hire new staff at any time.

He noted that the government will lift the hiring freeze in public administration on Dec. 1.

Gulyás also said that recent staff layoffs had left Hungary’s ministries with significant amounts of unspent funds which will be paid out to workers in the form of bonuses before the end of the year.

On another subject, he said the government had no plans to change the rules concerning the distribution of funds to local councils, unless the councils initiated such an amendment.

As regards public transport in Budapest, Gulyás noted that the government will plough 15 billion forints into subsidies for student and pensioner BKV passes and earmark 12 billion forints in blanket subsidies for the sector.

He reiterated that all public transport funds promised to former Budapest mayor István Tarlós will still be made available to the new city leadership.

Meanwhile, Gulyás said the government had already finalised its decision not to set up a separate system of public administration courts before last month’s local elections.