Health care services will be resumed gradually, and will be subject to prior appointment to be booked by telephone, the Chief Medical Officer stressed at the Tuesday online press conference of the Operational Group responsible for the containment of the coronavirus epidemic.

Cecília Müller asked members of the public to book an appointment by telephone before seeing their general practitioners or going to surgeries.

We have not yet returned to the pre-epidemic mode of operation, the Chief Medical Officer stressed.

She said acute, urgent dental care is available with prior appointment as before. Patients are asked questions already over the telephone, and urgent care is provided even if the patient is infected with the coronavirus. She stressed that a laboratory test must only be carried out if the suspicion of coronavirus infection emerges.

She added that if the suspicion of coronavirus infection emerges, no intervention other than emergency interventions will be carried out. If such a suspicion arises, the dentist will refer the patient to a general practitioner who will provide for the performance of a laboratory test.

Ms. Müller said patients are not required to pay for laboratory tests carried out in public health care; however, in private care, such tests will be performed at the expense of the health care provider. In this case, the private service provider will decide later whether to assume the cost of the laboratory test, or to shift it on to the patient.

The expert also indicated that dentists would prioritise patients according to the protocol determined by the stomatology section of the college of health care professionals. They will first complete treatments started before the epidemic, and will continue any maintenance therapy. She said “dental implant surgeries which are not urgent […] will be treated as a lower priority”.

The Chief Medical Officer highlighted that in Hungary the number of fatalities pro rata is not high. She said some years ago Hungary joined a European system which monitors the mortality data of countries. They analyse and standardise the data fed into the system. She said this year the system detected in week 11 that the rate of excess fatalities had statistically exceeded the average; for instance, in Italy, a drastic rise in the number of fatalities was already observable in week 10, while there was a surge between weeks 11 and 15.

In Hungary, however, according to the relevant data, no excess fatalities were demonstrable either during the flu season, or based on the weekly data of the coronavirus epidemic, meaning that there is no departure in the current mortality data from the average of many years, she stressed.

In answer to a question, she described blood plasma therapy for coronavirus patients as promising, adding that “there has been a spectacular improvement” in the condition of both patients who are well, Ms. Müller said.

(MTI)