János Lázár, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office announced a significant pay rise in health care in November at the press conference Governmentinfo 102 which he held jointly with Government Spokesperson Zoltán Kovács.
Mr Lázár said: they will increase the salaries of some 98 thousand workers, including 79 thousand specialist health care workers and 16 thousand physicians. Physicians may expect a pay rise of another HUF 100 thousand, doctors not holding specialisation degrees and pharmacists will receive HUF 50 thousand, while specialist health care workers will be eligible for a 12 per cent pay rise. Pay rises in health care will cost taxpayers HUF 82.5 billion this year, he told the press.
Mr Lázár said: the Cabinet further decided on the settlement of the debts of hospitals and the subsidisation of institutions which have carried out structural changes with a view to the long-term reduction of their debts. The Cabinet has approved HUF 56 billion for this purpose. From this allocation, the debts of institutions overdue by more than 30 days will be settled, but those institutions will likewise receive grants which have carried out changes that serve to improve the standard of care.
Electronic health care service facility to come into being in November
The digitisation of all data generated during the course of the provision of health care services will begin in November, meaning that an electronic health care service facility will come into being, the Minister announced. Mr Lázár said: as the first use of electronic identity cards, all data will be transferred to a central data registration platform which will create a more transparent and more manageable system.
This change will affect all health care workers and services; in other words, in addition to hospitals, the services of general practitioners, surgeries and pharmacies as well.
Workers will become part of a central system in which the data entered manually or in any other way to date will be transferred to a single place, a central cloud. For the purposes of this data transfer, they will use their electronic identity cards with which they will be issued with special urgency.
As he said, the preparations for this changeover have been ongoing since March, as part of which they have already distributed 25 thousand scanners, and the distribution of another 14 thousand has already begun, while the changeover will be implemented on an ongoing basis.
This initiative was equally supported by pharmacists, the Chamber of Physicians and the Hospital Association. According to Mr Lázár, the availability of certified data and controlled processes may be decisive in the modernisation of health care.
Regarding the new South-Buda hospital, he highlighted: it will be the largest health care development of the past one hundred years in Budapest, the new hospital will cost approximately HUF 150 billion. This will be the most modern care institution of Hungary and probably the entire region, the Minister said.
Case of manipulation attempts by Soros organisations to be clarified
The Government wishes to clarify whether the manipulation attempts which the activities of György Soros’s organisations in Brussels appear to suggest affected Hungary’s sovereignty, and if so, how, Mr Lázár said. It is necessary to clarify whether the country’s sovereignty was damaged in any way, the politician stressed in reference to documents leaked by the hacker group DCLeaks and urged the closer examination of their authenticity.
Mr Lázár said: pursuant to the Government’s decision, Minister of Interior Sándor Pintér will be required to prepare a report on whether the manipulation attempts of the Soros organisations carried out during the immigration crisis had any effect in Hungary.
He remarked that, in his view, the transportation of immigrants to the Hungarian border and „the siege of the Hungarian border” were not random events in the autumn of 2015, but part of an organised campaign.
He pointed out: another important question is how the „Soros network” was able to influence decision-makers at the various forums of the European Union against Hungary. In his words, one has the impression regarding the Brussels reports critical of Hungary which apply double standards that they were not conceived on the desks of the decision-makers of the European Commission, but on the computers of György Soros’s colleagues.
The issue of immigration is of particular significance for the Soros-type networks and his realm, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office said. In his view, the Soros organisations wanted Brussels to adopt an approach that is sympathetic towards immigration on the one hand so that „Europe should await immigrants with open arms”. On the other hand, „the countries (…) which resisted the immigration attempt in the summer and autumn of 2015 found themselves in the cross-hairs of their activities: this is how Hungary found itself on the menu”.
The Minister indicated that as minister supervising the intelligence services, he himself is preparing a report on what György Soros managed to achieve in Brussels against the Hungarian people. He remarked: Soros has „a bigger structure” in Brussels for the representation of his interests than the Hungarian State.
It is also quite telling, he said, that „György Soros bought journalists and media coverage for spreading his own beliefs, and when he felt the need, with a view to commissioning articles on Hungary which usually condemned the country”. In his view, in this light it is easier to understand that in these media outlets only negative articles have been published about Hungary since Viktor Orbán became Prime Minister.
Cabinet will not give up its stringent fiscal policy
Upon speaking about economic issues, the Minister highlighted the latest employment and unemployment data, stressing that unemployment has fallen to an unprecedented low in Hungary, and there has not been a single year since 1990 when as many people had jobs as now. Employment is almost full, he indicated, adding: the Government has achieved enormous results in the creation of jobs and the presentation of work as a value. At the same time, the empty rumours which claim that the public works schemes are boosting the labour market figures are not true, he remarked.
Mr Lázár also drew attention to the rise in earnings and the expansion of production in the construction industry. In the context of the latter, he confirmed that the Government is looking into how financial institutions handle issues related to the housing benefits of families, csok, while the Government is likewise dealing with the administration of the benefits available for the purchase and refurbishment of properties in small localities.
He further stressed that the Cabinet will not give up its stringent fiscal policy. He indicated at the same time that Hungary has a bookkeeping dispute with the EU, and the European agencies may well use figures which „they consider important in accordance with the European regulations”, but on the whole this has no impact on the fact that the Government is continuously reducing the sovereign debt.
The head of the Prime Minister’s Office also reported that Hungary would like further negotiations on the issue of the planned economic cooperation between the EU and South-American countries.
Czeglédy case is a simple case of embezzlement
In answer to a question related to the Czeglédy case, Mr Lázár said: „this is a simple case of embezzlement which was carried out by Ferenc Gyurcsány’s circles”. The Government would like to help the students wronged by the business of Szombathely municipal councillor Csaba Czeglédy (Éljen Szombathely!-MSZP-DK-Együtt) who is accused of fiscal fraud, and it is also necessary to look into reports which claim that pensioners may also have been wronged, he added.
In answer to another question, he said that parents cannot be required to contribute to the operation of schools as this is contrary to the relevant regulations, but it is an operational model that parents make voluntary contributions or kindergarten contributions.
Mr Lázár said in response to a journalist’s enquiry that he personally supports the Fidesz proposal to the effect that sports organisations should be given exemption from the payment of the local trade tax because sports associations are not business enterprises, but constitute „an atypical organisational form”.
Government says no to all forms of violence and harassment
Mr Lázár said in answer to a question: the Government did not deal with the case of László Marton, and consequently the revocation of his state decoration was likewise not on the agenda. He added at the same time: state decorations are not normally revoked. He remarked: should the idea that the relevant regulations should be made more stringent emerge in Parliament on account of this case, Fidesz as well as the Justice Ministry are open to discussions. He described the case in question as serious, but one of a private nature, about which the Government is not required to state an opinion, in his view, other than that it condemns harassment.
Upon commenting on a remark made by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjén to the effect that these cases of sexual harassment will be nothing compared with what may come in the wake of mass Islam immigration, he said: there are 8.5 million Muslim men in France. He remarked: it is well worth considering what consequences this has for the given society. He stressed: Mr Semjén himself condemns all acts of violence.
Regarding the fact that, as expected, Parliament will not change the regulations on the abolition of mandatory chimney inspections on their merits, Mr Lázár said in reply: the Government takes every motion, proposal and critical comment tabled by the head of state seriously, and also in this instance it will proceed with due circumspection.
He reiterated: the Cabinet made this service free for the public earlier. He stated at the same time: the arguments – which are in his view politically motivated – that seek to protect the people from themselves are not well-founded. Everyone is responsible for the technical condition of their own homes, he stressed.
Regarding the referendum initiative related to the asset declarations of politicians, he remarked: this issue must be resolved by Parliament because there is no doubt about the outcome of the referendum, should a sufficient number of signatures be collected.