Hungary health care on the side of the abyss: urgent need for action!

Hungary health care on the side of the abyss: urgent need for action!

In Hungary, it is bubbling in healthcare! Over 6000 doctors are in short supply, which leads to draconian waiting times and massive financial burdens for citizens. These alarming facts were recently loudly discussed on a large demonstration in Budapest. The Secretary General of the Hungarian Medical Association, Tamás Svéd, reported that the Hungarian government only expects a fraction of the EU average for medical care. In addition to social security, many Hungarians have to sacrifice billions for private treatments in order to receive help in good time. Particularly worrying is the high Cancer mortality in Hungary, which is unchallenged in the EU comparison, as is vienna.at explained.

lack of doctors and demographic challenges

The allegations of the Secretary of Health, who subordinate a politically motivated demonstration to the doctors, were vehemently rejected. The Vice President of the Independent Healthcare union, Adrianna Soós, also pointed out the difficult working conditions: only four out of 100 employees in the health sector in Hungary, which is far behind the European average. In addition, there is the legislature that allows up to 72 hours at work, and the lean salaries of only 350,000 forints (around 876 euros) for specialists. Soós emphasized again that changes would take eight years to achieve the European standard.

This situation is not just a Hungarian problem. According to a current report by the OECD, the health systems in the entire EU are fighting with similar difficulties. Demographic change and the lack of specialists in particular represent a major challenge. In 2022, 35 percent of doctors in the EU were over 55 years old - the number in Germany is even 44 percent. The OECD report underlines that foreign specialists in many countries, such as Ireland, make a decisive contribution to counteracting the lack of personnel. To the problem of prevention, the report indicates that Germany should draw attention to risk factors such as smoking in order to improve the health of the population.