Human Resources Minister Miklós Kásler said the Hungarian government is spending HUF 13.6 billion (EUR 34.6m) on shortening waiting lists in Hungarian healthcare.
According to MTI, Kásler said waiting lists had “grown extremely long” by 2010, when the Fidesz government came to power. With robust government spending, the waiting lists were cut to 26,000-28,000 people by 2019, from 70,000 in 2013, he said. The coronavirus pandemic has brought a rise in backlogs in healthcare worldwide, he said. In Hungary, the treatment of emergency cases, as well as cancer and cardiac illnesses, remained a requirement, he said.
At another press conference, Kásler said the government had spent a total HUF 9.3 billion on developments at the South-Pest Centrum Hospital – National Haematology and Infectology Institute in recent years. Kásler noted the “unique position” of the Centrum Hospital in the region, adding that its development was “necessary and justified”. Concerning the actual projects, the minister said the hospital’s maternity ward was now “family-friendly”: a modern diagnostics unit has been added, while the medical technology and energy systems have been upgraded. He added a database of oncology and haematology patients is under development.
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