Boston Consulting Group prepared the studies in 2020 under a government commission, using the codename Project Hippocrates. According to an article published by HVG on 10 November, six documents are now available on the Ministry of Health’s website. They examine problems across Hungary’s healthcare system and outline possible directions for reform.
HVG reported that the government paid HUF 352,440,000 for the work and then classified the studies for ten years.
A survey of the entire healthcare system
In an earlier description, the ministry divided the material into three thematic sections. The first examines options for healthcare reform. The second is a national healthcare inventory covering hospitals, outpatient clinics and primary care, as well as staffing, waiting lists, funding and infrastructure.
The third section sets out a comprehensive healthcare strategy for Hungary, including its proposed direction, the changes considered necessary, a timetable and possible sources of funding.
These subjects are familiar in Erzsébetváros too. Access to GPs and specialist care, as well as waiting times for hospital treatment, are part of everyday life for residents of Budapest’s District VII. The released studies, however, examine the national system rather than healthcare provision in the district specifically.
Ministry says the plans cannot simply be applied today
Health Minister Zsolt Hegedűs said the studies showed that the previous government was already aware of the scale of the healthcare system’s problems in 2020. He added that he was not calling for every BCG recommendation to be implemented, as some were debatable or had become outdated. His criticism was that the problems identified had not received an open, coherent and professionally grounded response, while patients and healthcare workers had been unable to read the documents.
In the ministry’s assessment, the Orbán government, led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, attempted to introduce some of the proposed measures but did not implement them as parts of a coordinated reform. The ministry argued that serious shortcomings therefore remained and that access to care had become less predictable in several areas.
The publication came with a caveat. The documents describe conditions in 2020, while technology, social circumstances and expectations of healthcare have since changed. The ministry therefore says the plans should not be treated as a current programme or as a blueprint that can be applied without revision.
Source: HVG
