Banners that read “Our health is at stake” and “European standard of care” were held by thousands of people who gathered in central Budapest on Saturday to demand additional money for Hungary’s long-neglected public health system.
Ahead of next year’s elections, nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been in office since 2010, is coming under increasing pressure to improve the quality of public services.
According to an AFP photographer, the demonstration in front of the parliament drew several thousand participants.
Fanni, a 27-year-old dentist who would not provide her last name, stated, “We need change,” and she expressed concern about her hospitalised grandmother.
“It is a terrible thing that you have to weigh whether or not it is worth taking your elderly relative to the hospital with a minor problem, because she could end up dying there,” she stated.
Sandor, a general practitioner who also chose not to provide his full name, bemoaned the pervasive lack of medical personnel.
“At the age of 77, I oversaw two general practitioner practices. “No one can take my place,” he told AFP.
More than a year after the surgery was postponed, Aniko Kertesz, a 58-year-old bank worker who also attended the protest, stated that her sister is still awaiting the removal of her uterus.
“When she was due to go to the hospital for the procedure, she was called just before and told there were too many surgeries scheduled,” she told AFP.
– Healthcare for all –
As one of the rally’s speakers exclaimed, “Healthcare belongs to all of us!” The audience erupted in cheers.
The rally’s organiser, the Hungarian Medical Chamber, has demanded increased financing and changes.
But the chamber was accused of acting like a “political actor” by Gergely Gulyas, Orban’s chief of staff.
He emphasised that the government would be amenable to talks and asserted that it had achieved “great strides” in healthcare in recent years, particularly in terms of increasing physician pay.
Based on the most recent Eurostat data, Hungary spent less than any other European Union nation on health in 2022, allocating just 4.4% of its GDP to this sector.
According to surveys, one of the main concerns of the Hungarian population is the quality of healthcare.
Last August, Orban’s chief opponent, opposition leader Peter Magyar, spent weeks touring hospitals in Hungary, exposing issues with the country’s healthcare system. He also participated in the protest on Saturday.
Two weeks ago, the judges’ union held an extraordinary march for judicial independence, drawing thousands of participants.
