The Hungarian government last year allocated HUF 1,127 billion (EUR 3.1bn) in extra funding for the healthcare sector from the epidemic protection fund and the economy protection framework, in addition to the originally budgeted amount.
The finance ministry said on Facebook that the business forum website mfor.hu had incorrectly stated that only HUF 60.7 billion had been allocated in the budget to healthcare during the epidemic. A total of HUF 1,027 billion has been used from the epidemic protection fund for health equipment procurements, infrastructure development and paying a HUF 500,000 one-off bonus to healthcare staff. The latter itself totalled more than HUF 100 billion.
The government allocated an additional HUF 100 billion of economy development funding to support the healthcare industry and improve the security of services, which also involved preserving jobs and creating new ones. As a result, total health spending last year almost totalled HUF 3,000 billion, the ministry said. The healthcare sector allocation for this year is also HUF 3,000 billion, and this is open-ended so it can be increased as necessary.