The Hungarian governments coronavirus response has angered doctors — and created rare tensions within the countrys ruling party.
Hungary has recorded 250 deaths from the coronavirus as of Friday, and has 2,383 known cases, according to government statistics. Yet, in early April the government ordered hospitals to ensure that over 30,000 beds were available in less than a fortnight.
That sparked chaos and outrage, as medical staff began calling relatives to take patients home. The Hungarian Medical Chamber, the countrys main professional association of doctors, warned the government in a letter that “uncertainty and tension” are growing within the health system.
In a statement earlier this month about its coronavirus response, the Hungarian government said that its aim was to ensure that 50 percent of beds — a total of 32,900 — were free by April 19, and in a later phase raise the number of available beds for coronavirus patients to 39,500. On Wednesday, the countrys chief medical officer announced that 50 percent of beds had been freed up.
For Hungarys doctors, the order to empty beds created a moral dilemma.
“We need to create the possibility that no single sick persons life would have to be given up.” — Viktor Orbán
“This causes much more ethical and life damage, I think, than the virus,” said one doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, calling the move “unbearable.”
The beds occupied by chronic patients “suddenly cant be used for intensive care,” the doctor said, adding that there are also many unused facilities in Hungary that could be reactivated if more space is needed to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.
This view was echoed by another doctor in the northeastern Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, who also asked not to be named due to rules that prevent medical professionals from speaking to the media without prior consent from their employer.
The doctor described how the building where they work was emptied of patients as part of the governments plan to address the coronavirus crisis.
“There were no patients in our building for weeks,” the doctor said. “Our building is not a good choice for treating severe cases, there isnt [the] specific possibility to give oxygen, for example.”
According to the doctor in Borsod, many of the beds freed up “were in nursing departments, rehabilitation departments, most of them were full of patients” who need specialized care all day. Some patients were sent home even though their “general status will worsen outside hospital,” the doctor said.
A third doctor said that “it was the hospital directors responsibility how to play with beds and how hard to hit each ward.” Some hospitals “cleared their entire cardiology internal medicine ward.”
Hungarys opposition has also criticized the governments approach.
The decision to vacate hospital beds “is simply cruel from a human rights perspective, and completely unfounded from a medical point of view,” said Katalin Cseh, a Hungarian doctor and vice chair of the liberal Renew Europe group of lawmakers in the European Parliament.
“Cancer patients, people suffering from bipolar disorder, and recent stroke survivors have been discharged from hospital overnight,” Cseh said. “While only around 1,000 COVID-19 patients require hospital treatment today, the government sent many thousands of seriously ill people home where they have no access to adequate care, medicine, or technical infrastructure that would facilitate their care or recovery.”
But Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says his governments strategy is about preparing for the worst in the coronavirus crisis.
Asked about controversy surrounding the decision to free up beds, Orbán said on state radio Friday that “we need to create the possibility that no single sick persons life would have to be given up.”
Pointing to other countries that ran out of space and equipment during the coronavirus crisis, he said that “if during the restart of [normal] life, the virus breaks loose and we cant control it, then suddenly we would need to produce tens of thousands of beds and thousands of ventilators, which is impossible.”
The responsible move is to build hospital capacity that would be needed in a worst-case scenario, Orbán said.
The authorities have also insisted that relatively few patients had to leave hospitals.
Hungarys top medical official, Cecília Müller, told a press conference earlier this week that “not many patients had to be sent home, as only an average of 65-70 percent of hospital beds were previously occupied.”
Nevertheless, the governments moves prompted rare criticism from within the ruling Fidesz party after Human Capacities Minister Miklós Kásler, who is in charge of health issues, on April 12 dismissed the director of the National Institute of Medical Rehabilitation from his post. The ministry said that the institute had failed to implement government instructions on emptying beds.
The director, former government official Péter Cserháti, is a popular doctor in conservative Read More – Source
The Hungarian governments coronavirus response has angered doctors — and created rare tensions within the countrys ruling party.
Hungary has recorded 250 deaths from the coronavirus as of Friday, and has 2,383 known cases, according to government statistics. Yet, in early April the government ordered hospitals to ensure that over 30,000 beds were available in less than a fortnight.
That sparked chaos and outrage, as medical staff began calling relatives to take patients home. The Hungarian Medical Chamber, the countrys main professional association of doctors, warned the government in a letter that “uncertainty and tension” are growing within the health system.
In a statement earlier this month about its coronavirus response, the Hungarian government said that its aim was to ensure that 50 percent of beds — a total of 32,900 — were free by April 19, and in a later phase raise the number of available beds for coronavirus patients to 39,500. On Wednesday, the countrys chief medical officer announced that 50 percent of beds had been freed up.
For Hungarys doctors, the order to empty beds created a moral dilemma.
“We need to create the possibility that no single sick persons life would have to be given up.” — Viktor Orbán
“This causes much more ethical and life damage, I think, than the virus,” said one doctor, who spoke on condition of anonymity, calling the move “unbearable.”
The beds occupied by chronic patients “suddenly cant be used for intensive care,” the doctor said, adding that there are also many unused facilities in Hungary that could be reactivated if more space is needed to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.
This view was echoed by another doctor in the northeastern Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén county, who also asked not to be named due to rules that prevent medical professionals from speaking to the media without prior consent from their employer.
The doctor described how the building where they work was emptied of patients as part of the governments plan to address the coronavirus crisis.
“There were no patients in our building for weeks,” the doctor said. “Our building is not a good choice for treating severe cases, there isnt [the] specific possibility to give oxygen, for example.”
According to the doctor in Borsod, many of the beds freed up “were in nursing departments, rehabilitation departments, most of them were full of patients” who need specialized care all day. Some patients were sent home even though their “general status will worsen outside hospital,” the doctor said.
A third doctor said that “it was the hospital directors responsibility how to play with beds and how hard to hit each ward.” Some hospitals “cleared their entire cardiology internal medicine ward.”
Hungarys opposition has also criticized the governments approach.
The decision to vacate hospital beds “is simply cruel from a human rights perspective, and completely unfounded from a medical point of view,” said Katalin Cseh, a Hungarian doctor and vice chair of the liberal Renew Europe group of lawmakers in the European Parliament.
“Cancer patients, people suffering from bipolar disorder, and recent stroke survivors have been discharged from hospital overnight,” Cseh said. “While only around 1,000 COVID-19 patients require hospital treatment today, the government sent many thousands of seriously ill people home where they have no access to adequate care, medicine, or technical infrastructure that would facilitate their care or recovery.”
But Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says his governments strategy is about preparing for the worst in the coronavirus crisis.
Asked about controversy surrounding the decision to free up beds, Orbán said on state radio Friday that “we need to create the possibility that no single sick persons life would have to be given up.”
Pointing to other countries that ran out of space and equipment during the coronavirus crisis, he said that “if during the restart of [normal] life, the virus breaks loose and we cant control it, then suddenly we would need to produce tens of thousands of beds and thousands of ventilators, which is impossible.”
The responsible move is to build hospital capacity that would be needed in a worst-case scenario, Orbán said.
The authorities have also insisted that relatively few patients had to leave hospitals.
Hungarys top medical official, Cecília Müller, told a press conference earlier this week that “not many patients had to be sent home, as only an average of 65-70 percent of hospital beds were previously occupied.”
Nevertheless, the governments moves prompted rare criticism from within the ruling Fidesz party after Human Capacities Minister Miklós Kásler, who is in charge of health issues, on April 12 dismissed the director of the National Institute of Medical Rehabilitation from his post. The ministry said that the institute had failed to implement government instructions on emptying beds.
The director, former government official Péter Cserháti, is a popular doctor in conservative Read More – Source
