“If tens of thousands of people are resettled in Hungary it would also place a major burden on the healthcare budget”, the Ministry of Human Capacities’ Parliamentary State Secretary said on Tuesday at a press conference in Kemence after the arrival of health screening bus that operates within the framework of the Healthy Hungary Programme.

Bence Rétvári told reporters that the provision of healthcare services to immigrants would be much more expensive than in the case of Hungarian citizens, because on the one hand interpreters would need to be provided, in addition to which it is impossible to know whether or not they have previously received any of the mandatory inoculations or carry diseases that require a greater level of medical attention.

“The arrival of immigrants would burden the healthcare service system to such an extent that over a period of two years it would cost the same as the total cost of the major hospital consolidation realised at the end of last year”, the State Secretary said.

Mr. Rétvári also spoke about the fact that by providing for the “home delivery” of screening services with these buses, the Government wants to help improve the health of people who live in settlements with fewer than 5000 inhabitants, adding that over a thousand screenings have taken place in over 50 locations so far throughout the country.

The Parliamentary State Secretary said the measures introduced so far by the Government had succeeded in reducing the number of doctors who go abroad to work: while 845 doctors requested the documentation required to work abroad in 2010, this number had fallen to 334 by last year. Parallel to this, the number of people completing their medical studies is also increasing every year, from 1000 in 2010 to 1400 this year, he added. According to Mr. Rétvári, this is all thanks to the fact that doctors’ salaries have increased and a large number of hospitals and clinics have been successfully refurbished.

General Director of the Jávorszky Ödön Hospital in Vác, Edina Urbán spoke about the fact that this is the third time that the hospital has taken part in such screenings, which are important because illnesses that are diagnosed sooner can be treated more easily and with a greater chance of success, before they have had a chance to cause permanent damage.

(MTI)