As early as 2008, Zoltán Komáromi, the shadow health minister of the Gyurcsány party, campaigned for the visiting fee, Origo reports. The newspaper's article also reveals that Ferenc Gyurcsány has not yet given up on the introduction of paid healthcare. PestiSrácok examines Origo's article.
The shadow health minister Ferencsány Gyurcsány appeared in the public eye not only with his statements aimed at hospital closures and the termination of some vital departments, the DK family doctor was already the main organizer of the signature collection launched in 2008 to keep the visiting fee, writes Origo. The paper reminds us that in their manifesto published on the website vizitdíj2008.doctor.hu they said:
We thank you for your activity in the last 4 weeks, which allowed us to express our opinion and solidarity in such a novel, perhaps unusual way, in favor of keeping the visiting fee... We have to admit, thanks to the visiting fee, the income of general practitioners increased by almost a third on average... If we have enough, maybe we can protect it what we have already acquired. Perhaps one click is enough to prevent the visit fee from being taken back!
At that time, Komáromi, although he pretended to be a simple general practitioner, was in fact a general practitioner inspector appointed by the Gyurcsány government's health minister, collecting the signatures of his subordinates in addition to the visit fee.
Origo draws attention to the fact that, according to the testimony of the website, only 384 doctors and 3337 citizens supported the initiative. According to the paper, the visiting fee also outraged most of the doctors, several of them refused to collect the money from the patients.
The background to the case was that in 2007, the left-liberal government led by Ferenc Gyurcsány introduced extra fees in healthcare and education, among other things, to reduce the budget deficit. At that time, Fidesz-KDNP also initiated a referendum for the abolition of the visiting fee, the hospital daily fee and the training contribution, which was valid and effective.
According to Origo, however, the Gyurcsány party has not given up extorting people to this day, this is indicated by the fact that in a newspaper interview at the beginning of the election campaign at the beginning of this year, Komáromi said: "In 2007, the visit fee was a good tool to encourages overburdened emergency departments, general practitioner and outpatient services to make better use of their capacities.
These manifestations mean that two-thirds of hospitals would be closed in a government position, vital departments such as obstetrics and traumatology would be abolished in smaller institutions, and a heart attack patient or a mother would have to travel up to 50 kilometers to the hospital. In addition, paid health care would be introduced, and patients would again be asked to pay a visit fee. they write.
Source: PestiSrácok
Featured image: Balázs Hatlaczki/PS
