Hungarian hospitals in enormous debts

The debt has increased by 4.6 billion forints (over 13 million euros) in just one month.

The coronavirus pandemic hit hard in case of many businesses; unfortunately, social security is not an exception either. Numerous Hungarian hospitals accumulated an enormous amount of debt.

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Napi.hu writes that by the end of July,

Hungarian hospitals, together with all their institutions, had an almost unimaginable debt of 46 billion forints (over 131 million euros)

towards their providers. Based on the data of the Hungarian Treasury, this amount increased by 4.6 billion forints (over 13 million euros), just over the course of one month. The average augmentation is around 5.4 billion forints (15 and a half million euros) per month.

The current total reaches the amount hospitals owed at the end of last November before the government stepped in with a fiscal consolidation plan to stabilise the debt.

Considering those bills, as well, that have a 60-day deadline,

companies already have been waiting for 8-9 months to receive the money for their services or equipment provided.

Hospitals practically have been unable to pay ever since.

According to Index, the general secretary of the Association of Medical Technology László Rásky says that

if the rhythm of the increase does not change, the debts will surpass 60 billion forints when reaching November.

In a previous article back in May, Index wrote that the actual debts at that point stood at 32.7 billion forints (over 93 million euros). It has been steadily increasing since the beginning of this year when this number was “only” 19.4 billion forints (55 and a half million euros).

Interestingly, this high increase in July came to be while treating Covid patients did not really mean an extra burden anymore. The average number of patients tended to in hospitals due to the virus fell under 100 per day. Moreover, the capacity of the institutions on which they had worked before the pandemic has not been reinstated yet. They all operate on a relatively moderate level. It shows that the current financial allocation is so tight that it barely covers the wages and the basic costs.

The most important question is whether this complicated situation could influence the services provided by hospitals in the country, which would, of course, directly affect any citizen in need of care.

Source: index.hu, napi.hu