Major Hospital Developments to Commence in Békés County30 March 2010
Emergency care units at the Réthy Pál Hospital and Clinic in Békéscsaba and Pándy Kálmán Hospital in Gyula will be renewed by next summer with the help of EU funding as a part of the New Hungary Development Plan.
Healthcare services accessible for the 300,000 residents of Békés County will significantly improve as an outcome of these developments. The assistance contracts underpinning these two investments have just been signed. Together with these two hospitals, emergency care units in 26 hospitals around the country may evolve involve into European standard modern medical centres by summer 2011.
The health status of the Hungarian population is one of the poorest in Europe. We live shorter and unhealthier lives in comparison to the citizens of other member states of the European Union. Life expectancy at birth is 7 years under the EU average in the case of men and 4 years under the average in the case of women. Hungary only ranks 23rd among the 27 EU member states as regards the number of healthy life years (HLY) lived. It is no coincidence, therefore, that in the course of utilization of EU funds healthcare developments are of strategic importance. Over the 2007-2013 period, Hungary has the opportunity to spend EU funding amounting to over 311 billion HUF on the development of healthcare infrastructures and nearly 60 million HUF on health preservation and the development of human resources in the field of healthcare. Besides these resources, a further 110 billion HUF can be allocated for upgrading healthcare over this 7-year period from Regional Operational Programmes, primarily for developing micro-regional outpatient services. This represents a total of 481 billion HUF made available from the NHDP framework.
Upgrading emergency care services is one of the priority areas of these healthcare developments. As an outcome of the call specifically targeting this area, emergency care units in 26 hospitals around the country – including the Réthy Pál Hospital and Clinic in Békéscsaba and the Pándy Kálmán Hospital in Gyula - may evolve evolve into European standard modern medical centres up to 2011 with the help of EU funding amounting to 12 billion HUF. The assistance contracts underpinning these major healthcare developments in Békés County have just been signed.
As an outcome of the investment to be implemented in Békéscsaba with the help of EU funding amounting to over 456 million HUF – costing nearly a total of 513 million HUF to complete – the emergency care unit at the Réthy Pál Hospital and Clinic in Békéscsaba will be developed and modern medical equipment will be procured by summer 2011. Two-thirds of the medical equipment in this unit will be renewed, which, among others, includes the procurement of a CT apparatus vitally needed in the domain of modern diagnostics, thanks to which the average age of high-value equipment will decrease from 12.8 years to 3.7 years. The feeling of security and quality of life will substantially improve for 175,000 residents of Békés County as an outcome of this development.
70% of the medical equipment in the emergency care unit of the Pándy Kálmán Central County Hospital in Gyula will be renewed; major developments geared towards ensuring handicap access will take place and a helicopter landing pad will also be created within the framework of developments implemented with the help of EU funding amounting to nearly 509 million HUF and costing approximately 622 million HUF to complete. These investments to be implemented in the hospital by August 2011 will improve the quality of life of over 126,000 residents of 4 micro-regions living in 33 settlements as well as residents of Gyula. The significance of these investments is well-demonstrated by how 22 of the 33 settlements concerned qualify as disadvantaged settlements.