Alexandra Szentkirályi said that the number of asylum applications is also increasing day by day, 7,947 people submitted such applications in the past month.
According to his assessment, the time since the outbreak of the war was characterized by amazing work and tremendous cooperation, the Hungarian government, aid organizations, civilians, and local governments reacted to the humanitarian crisis in the first minute.
According to the government spokesperson, 9,474 people were helped at the humanitarian transit point opened a week ago in the BOK hall in Budapest. He added: the hall has food, drinks, medical care, you can clean yourself, help with travel arrangements, there is internet access and a children's corner; MÁV operated an international ticket office here.
He explained that by Monday morning, the railway company had issued 173,000 solidarity tickets to those fleeing Ukraine, which provide free travel within the country's borders.
Those arriving here are provided with health care, prescription medicine or any other health care
he detailed.
Alexandra Szentkirályi said that from Monday, the guardianship department of the Metropolitan Government Office will also help unaccompanied minors in the BOK hall.
He said that the work of the healthcare sector is being helped by the fact that healthcare workers and ambulances can also request an interpreter in Ukrainian.
The spokesperson said that the number of children participating in public education is also increasing: 181 kindergarten children and 758 schoolchildren attend Hungarian institutions.
He continued: the goal in public education institutions is for children to integrate as quickly as possible. In addition to compulsory schooling, the government provides five afternoons a week of individual classes for the affected students, so the schools, public education and vocational training institutions receiving refugees from Ukraine will receive additional support of HUF 130,000 per month, he said.
He added: those preparing for the matriculation exam are provided with the Hungarian matriculation exam or the modification of the previous application.
Alexandra Szentkirályi said that those who plan to stay in Hungary are helped to get a job as soon as possible.
He said that they help not only the employees, but also the employers. He added: in the BOK hall, the company commissioned by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade helps with employment issues. He also reminded that the employer can receive support for housing and travel costs in the case of employment of Ukrainians or dual citizens who cross the border after February 24. The subsidy is 50 percent of the costs, but no more than HUF 60,000, he noted.
The government spokesperson also reported that so far more than two billion forints worth of aid shipments have been sent to Ukraine and Transcarpathia. Hungary also participates in the coordinated EU aid, in the framework of which the country sent medical devices that the Ukrainians specifically requested, he said.
He summed it up:
People fleeing the war can still count on Hungary, as it has done, and from now on Hungary will provide them with all the help they can. However, Hungary is primarily responsible for the Hungarians, and it means the greatest security for the country if it does not get involved in this war conflict
he declared.
Miklós Soltész, the Prime Minister's State Secretary responsible for church and ethnic relations, emphasized that Hungary's position is clear: the country provides assistance to all refugees, but does not transport or allow weapons or soldiers to cross its borders.
He said that assistance has been concentrated in more and more areas in the past month: in the first days, aid points were set up in five border settlements with the help of local governments, then warehouse bases were set up, and after the assistance at the railway station, the BOK hall was opened.
He said that since the outbreak of the war, more than ten thousand civilians have helped the refugees. He thanked the civilians and the six charitable organizations for their work so far, and said that they had helped 265,000 people.
He also reported that
Hungarian citizens donated over HUF 800 million to the donation line 1357 of the Bridge for Subcarpathian aid program and to account number 11711711-22222222.
According to Miklós Soltész, Hungary's support in Transcarpathia and beyond has not decreased in recent days either. A lot of criticism is undeservedly directed at the country because it does not supply weapons, but Hungary helps in everything else, he stressed.
He added: in recent days, the Hungarian Maltese Charity Service has delivered five trucks, the Ecumenical Aid Organization six, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade four trucks to Subcarpathia and beyond the Carpathians, mostly food, hygiene equipment and medicines.
The state secretary said that the two billion forints provided by the government, partly through Hungary Helps, and the three billion forints granted to charitable organizations also help the fantastic and huge cooperation, which was unprecedented in the past decades. Hungary is united, he declared, adding: they don't care about those who criticize all this, because it's easy to take a selfie, but it's not so easy to work afterwards.
MTI
Cover photo: MTI Photo Editors/Zsolt Czeglédi
