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BUDAPEST (Reuters) - A year after COVID-19 arrived in Hungary, public hospitals have spent most of their resources fighting the virus and are currently battling its deadliest outbreak yet, unable to treat the growing numbers of people awaiting non-emergency procedures.
FILE PHOTO: The new building of the private hospital Duna Medical Centre is seen under construction in Budapest, Hungary, July 22, 2019. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo/File Photo
So with public hospitals closed to elective surgery, a quiet revolution in private health care is unfolding, led by a wave of investment in private hospitals and growth in health insurance.
Traditionally public hospitals provide the overwhelming majority of in-patient care, looking after everything from tonsillectomies to heart bypass surgery, but the pandemic has created an opportunity for existing private healthcare providers to expand and new competitors to enter the market.
Reopening to Continue: Hungary Likely to Reach 4 Million Vaccinations Very Soon
If Hungary is able to maintain the first dose vaccination rate of recent days, it will likely surpass 4 million vaccinated people tomorrow, so the country’s big reopening could already begin on Saturday.
The Orbán government previously decided to link the gradual lifting of restrictions imposed to stop the spread of the pandemic to the number of people who have received at least the first dose of a vaccine.
After the number of individuals who received at least their first jab passed 3.5 million, last Saturday the government reopened open-air bars, restaurants, and cafes.
Health Professionals: All of Hungary s Vaccines Are Effective! hungarytoday.hu - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hungarytoday.hu Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Health Minister Kostadin Angelov said that nearly 1,150 million leva had been provided for the health care sector since the start of the COVID
pandemic so as to guarantee the predictability of expenditures. He attended a working meeting with Prime Minister Boyko Borissov on Sunday.
Angelov said 858 million leva had been distributed, including nearly 85 million leva for Remdesivir, some 200 million leva paid for COVID vaccines, 5 million leva for one-off tourist services for health workers, 395 million leva in support of front-line workers, and 50.5 million leva in subsidies to hospitals which were directly involved in the anti-COVID effort at the end of 2020. Also, 75 million leva were allocated for personal protective equipment for all treatment facilities, regional health inspectorates and emergency health centres, and 29 million leva were earmarked for diagnostic hospital equipment.