Budapest (MTI) – The government has allocated around 235 billion forints (EUR 754.6m) towards the first phase of hospital development and upgrades planned in the capital which are scheduled to begin at the beginning of next year at the latest, the government commissioner for hospital developments told daily Magyar Idők on Saturday.
Most of the funds, around 185 billion forints, will be spent on three of the four planned hospital centres, Péter Cserháti said.
A total of 11 billion forints will be spent on power system upgrades at the three hubs’ so-called partner hospitals. These funds will be distributed later this year, Cserháti said.
An amount of 39 billion forints has been earmarked in next year’s budget to be spent on interior renovations and technological upgrades at the partner hospitals, he said.
While hospitals outside the capital underwent developments worth around a total of 500 billion forints between 2007 and 2013, only two hospitals in Budapest, the Honvéd hospital in the north of Pest and the National Medical Rehabilitation Institute in the Buda hills, received significant upgrades from government funding. The government did, however, carry out several smaller developments from European Union funds, Cserháti added.