Opposition Pledges to Cut Waiting Lists, Set up Independent Healthcare Ministry

Opposition parties on Wednesday pledged to set up an independent healthcare ministry, review the status of healthcare employees and cut waiting lists should the opposition come to power after the general election this spring.

Zoltán Komáromi of the Democratic Coalition (DK) told an online press conference that the coronavirus pandemic had shown “what the government did to the healthcare system in the past 11 years.” The number of fatalities is expected to reach 40,000 by the end of the year, he said. The number of tests carried out on Tuesday was 15,500, “outrageously low”, and 20 percent was positive, “an extremely weak performance in an international comparison”, he said.

Jobbik lawmaker László György Lukács said that Hungary’s Covid-related mortality rate in the third wave of the pandemic had been among the highest. He said the government had failed to prepare for the third wave and changed the status of healthcare workers mid-pandemic, so many were prompted to leave their jobs.

Lukács said that if the united opposition wins next spring’s election, it will restore the public servant status of healthcare employees. Wages will be further hiked, and they will set up an independent healthcare ministry to organise the sector, he said.

Gábor Havasi of the Momentum Movement noted that Hungarians spent increasing amounts on private health care. Meanwhile, the country leads the EU mortality charts on cancer-related deaths, he said. If it comes to power, the opposition will reorganise the sector to increase effectiveness and cut waiting lists, and boost prevention and early detection methods to improve the chances of cancer patients, he said. Financing should be adjusted to the “real costs of examinations and interventions” and wages should provide incentives for performance, he said.

featured image via Zoltán Komáromi- Facebook