Hungarian doctors and other healthcare workers gather to protest against the health policy of Hungary's Prime Minister Orban's government in front of the Hungarian Parliament in Budapest on March 8, 2025. (Photo by Attila Kisbenedek / AFP)
Budapest: Thousands gathered in central Budapest on Saturday to demand more funding for Hungary's long-neglected public health system, holding up banners reading "Our health is at stake" and "European standard of care".
The demonstration comes as nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban -- in power since 2010 -- faces growing scrutiny over the quality of public services ahead of elections scheduled for next year.
Several thousands of people attended the protest in front of the parliament, an AFP photographer estimated.
"We need change," said Fanni, a 27-year-old dentist, who declined to give her surname, adding that she was worried about her hospitalised grandmother.
"It is a terrible thing that you have to weigh whether or not it is worth taking your elderly relative to the hospital with a minor problem, because she could end up dying there," she said.
Sandor, a general practitioner, who also did not want to give his full name, lamented a widespread shortage of medical staff.
"I am 77 years old and I led two GP practices. There is no-one to replace me," he told AFP.
Aniko Kertesz, a 58-year-old bank clerk, who also joined the rally, said her sister is still waiting for her uterus to be removed, more than one year after the surgery was cancelled.
"When she was due to go to the hospital for the procedure, she was called just before and told there were too many surgeries scheduled," she told AFP.
Healthcare for all
"Healthcare belongs to all of us!" one of the speakers at the rally declared, to enthusiastic applause from the crowd.
The Hungarian Medical Chamber, which organised the rally, has called for better funding and reforms.
But Orban's chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, accused the chamber of behaving like a "political actor".
He stressed that the government would be open to negotiations and claimed that it had made "great strides" in healthcare over the past few years, especially in raising doctors' salaries.
Hungary spent only 4.4 percent of its GDP on health in 2022, a smaller share than any other European Union country, according to the latest available Eurostat figures.
Surveys consistently show that the quality of healthcare is among the biggest concerns of the Hungarian public.
Orban's main rival, opposition leader Peter Magyar, highlighted problems with Hungary's healthcare system last August, when he toured hospitals for weeks. He also joined Saturday's protest.
Two weeks ago, thousands joined an unprecedented rally by the judges' association for judicial independence.
