An extra HUF 191b will be allocated in the budget for healthcare next year, however, of this HUF 40b will only be accessible if the institutional system improves its efficiency, was said at the conference Healthcare in Recovery by Nézőpont Intézet.
“Hungarian healthcare is in no need of recovery”, said Minister of Human Resources Miklós Kásler referring to the title of the conference. The Minister does not think that the supply of healthcare in Hungary is sick, and people have been getting sick less often as well since 2010. Life expectancy at birth and the number of years spent in health have increased. The government has turned its attention to public health, and five national programs have been set up to deal with the most devastating diseases. HUF 30b will be spent on medical technology and a further HUF 12b on specialist clinics. Miklós Kásler also spoke about problems such as the end-of-year accumulation of unpaid hospital accounts. “We’re changing the unfortunate trend of hospitals being bailed out by the government while no one is held responsible”, he said.
State Secretary for Public Finances Benő Péter Banai said it was unacceptable for hospitals to recreate their debt. The cabinet intends to end the cycle therefore of the health budget pumped up with an extra HUF 191b next year, HUF 40b will be made available to healthcare providers on the condition they increase efficiency.
Nézőpont Csoport CEO Ágoston Sámuel Mráz called the development of healthcare a national policy objective, which now has the tools and resources available. He emphasized that people should change their attitude as according to their research only half of the middle-aged population visit their GP every year.