Socialist MEP: Szombathely backs European Health Union plan

The city of Szombathely, in western Hungary, is among the first localities to back the European Commission’s plan to create a European Health Union, Socialist Party MEP István Ujhelyi said in a statement on Tuesday.

Ujhelyi on Tuesday participated in an online conference organised by Budapest’s Institute for Social Democracy and the Brussels-based Foundation for European Progressive Studies (FEPS) on opportunities to expand the European Health Union plan in Hungary.

Ujhelyi said the European Union’s next multiannual budget allocates more than 5 billion euros towards health-care programmes, most of which he said should be spent directly on local council schemes. The European Health Union should also cover the development of the health industry, he said, adding that Szombathely was poised to be a leader in this field in the coming period.

Szombathely Mayor András Nemény told the conference that

his city had outlined specific proposals aimed at improving public health care.

Szombathely has developed a unique career model for its general practitioners, pledged to establish a new health centre comprising 15 clinics using EU funds and will inaugurate a new central medical emergency service, the mayor said.

Mihály Kökény, Hungary’s former health minister, who heads the country’s research on the European Health Union plan, praised Szombathely’s health-care model, saying

it would be “exemplary” when it comes to implementing the EU scheme.

• “Hungarian doctors are like pilots who have to find the runway without beacon-lights”

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Source: MTI