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Under the Ferenc Gyurcsány government, there were drastic hospital closures after 2006, even though then-Health Minister Lajos Molnár promised that there would be no hospital closures. In addition, the number of active beds in several hospitals was reduced, there were mergers and capacity reductions. It turned out that Gyurcsany wanted to arrest the gynecologists with the police to intimidate the doctors. Now, at the time of the coronavirus epidemic, when Western Europe’s healthcare system is struggling not to collapse, now that Hungarian healthcare is working heroically, what happened then is worth reliving.
Between 2006 and 2009 Ferenc Gyurcsány the second MSZP-SZDSZ government closed several hospitals in an attempt to save money after overspending before the parliamentary elections and to hide the budget deficit anyway.
It was planned to save on the health of the Hungarian people. The second Gyurcsány government had three health ministers, Lajos Molnár From June 9, 2006 to April 6, 2007 Ágnes Horváth (April 6, 2007 to April 30, 2008) and Tamás Székely (Since May 5, 2008). Lajos Molnár was part of the SZDSZ faction in parliament, but was not a member of the party. Ágnes Horváth became a member of the SZDSZ in 2007.
The reduction of health care, the closure of hospital departments and even entire hospitals fell to the ministries of Molnár and Horváth. Lajos Molnár published a book in 2010 Why did I become unfriendly under which describes that Immediately after the formation of the second Gyurcsány government, it became clear that there was no money, so austerity had to be decided, and the biggest withdrawal was that of medical care. Molnár wrote in his book that the reforms do not require money and will even generate savings.
At the first personal meeting of the newly appointed Minister of Health after his oath With Gyurcsán, the arrest of some gynecologists was also raised as an idea to intimidate doctors and break resistance to austerity.
Shouldn’t we set an example, follow the example of Bratislava? Gyurcsány turned to Molnár. “A few days earlier, the Hungarian press also reported that the police had arrested a gynecologist in Bratislava in his office when he received the thank you money requested in advance for the delivery. I did not consider it necessary “ Molnár wrote. In Hungarian: the arrest of the doctors was Gyurcsany’s idea to intimidate them in this way. It is also clear that the Prime Minister and the Minister negotiated the arrests as if they had something to do with them in a state governed by the rule of law.
Following Gyurcsány and Molnár’s plans, a hospital closure law was drafted, which was voted in parliament on December 18, 2006, despite protests from Fidesz. According to this 5 hospitals should have been closed and 8 active beds would have been eliminated. The hospitals sentenced to closure were the Schöpf-Merei Hospital in the capital, the MÁV Hospital in Buda, the Dialysis Center in Borsod, the Aviation Hospital in Kecskemét and the State Hospital in Parádfürdő.
The list of hospitals condemned to closure was soon expanded with the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology (OPNI), commonly known as Lipótmező.
By the way, on November 17, 2006, when the government announced that it was planning a hospital reform, Molnár said that Due to the reform, not a single hospital will be closed, it will simply be remodeled. It soon became clear that he had not told the truth.
Active beds were reportedly abolished in the following hospitals: in Bonyhád, Kapuvár, Szikszó, Castle Palaces, Zirc, Nagykőrös, the Sopron Sanatorium and the St. Roch Hospital in the capital.
Fierce protests against the closure of hospitals broke out in March and April 2007, and Fidesz also appealed to the Constitutional Court in vain. The Hospital Closure Law came into force in April of this year, Lajos Molnár resigned a few days later. Supposedly Gábor Kuncze for this he said that now the SZDSZ has ended. However, we still had to wait a bit for this. However, Kuncze really “ended” so the party elected a new president János Kóka in person.
Molnár’s successor was Ágnes Horváth, Secretary of State for Health of the SZDSZ.
More, The Gyurcsánys introduced the visitation fee, which was the first step towards the privatization of healthcare, as the SZDSZ and Ferenc Gyurcsány personally wanted. even in the MSZP, not everyone agreed. The paid medical visit fee was valid from February 15, 2007 to March 31, 2008. Fidesz, taking advantage of the initiative of the referendum, initiated a referendum on the issue of the visit fee, which included 3 questions, which had place on March 9, 2008.
In general, this was a referendum not only on the fee for the visit, but also on the policy of the Gyurcsány government. The referendum was successful, as a result of which Gyurcsány, instead of resigning, overthrew Minister Ágnes Horváth, who became the “face” of the visitation fee, and the SZDSZ did not appoint a new one, and even resigned from the government. It is true that a year later Gyurcsány also fell.
Some hospital closures were prevented by protests from the opposition, the profession and the public, but other institutions were less fortunate. The Schöpf-Merei Ágost Hospital and Maternal Protection Center, the National Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology (Lipótmező) and the Svábhegy State Children’s Hospital were closed, and the Margaret Hospital, the Buda Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Hospital were merged or dismantled János. In particular, the closure of Lipótmező caused confusion and then scandal, as it was a European-level institution and had been operating since 1868. The decision left many psychiatric patients homeless.
Maté Kocsis In 2013, when he was still communications director for Fidesz and mayor of Józsefváros, he summarized hospital closures as follows: As a result, 8,000 health workers lost their jobs, there was not enough equipment, medicines, ambulance, doctor, nurse.
During the government of the left.
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