Healthcare is now a top priority for the government, the minister recently told a professional conference in Budapest. The creation of a standalone health ministry was a first step, freeing the sector from the old Ministry of Interior headed by Sándor Pintér, Hegedűs said, but insisted the real change would come from professionalism and transparency.
To that end, he stressed in a recent Facebook post that there must be no more classified reports, cosmetically altered data, or evasive language. Quality must be measured, and hospital infection data, waiting times, and patient safety indicators must be made public.
Dr. Balázs Áron Nemes, a transplant surgeon, will head the Healthcare Quality Control Authority, an independent body tasked with monitoring minimum standards, improving quality, handling patient complaints and coordinating innovation and research, Hegedűs has announced.
The minister confirmed that, under Professor Zoltán Kaló, the National Health Insurance Fund (OEP) will be reintroduced to replace the National Health Insurance Fund Management (NEAK), and it will transition from a mere payment office to a true insurer.
Hungary’s healthcare system is underfunded both in nominal terms and as a share of GDP, Hegedűs says. The government is working to secure EU funds and has allocated part of a HUF 500 billion (EUR 1.3 bln) boost to long-term pay rises for healthcare workers and strengthening basic care.
The country faces a healthcare workforce crisis, with severe shortages in some specialties, Hegedűs says. The goal is to retain and attract professionals not just through higher pay, but by changing the system’s mindset.
“We want to create values, not just serve interests,” Hegedűs said. Unlike the previous government, which avoided disclosing the system’s true performance metrics, the current cabinet intends to publish the state of healthcare it inherited, he added.
The ministry also required hospitals to remove facial recognition systems by July 1, Semmelweis Day. It will reinstate mandatory membership in professional chambers, the minister noted.
Arriving for a meeting of EU employment, social policy, health and consumer protection ministers in Luxembourg on June 16, Hegedűs noted that the meeting was the first time in 16 years that Hungary had been represented by a minister heading an independent health ministry. “This is a very special day and a real milestone for us,” he said.
Hegedűs said the government is striving to create a Hungarian healthcare system characterized by the three key values of honesty, transparency and professionalism. The aim will be to base the new system on values: measuring quality indicators and making them public would be essential to the reform process, he added.
The minister identified updating the regulation of medical devices and developing a regulatory framework for the healthcare applications of biotechnology as two top priorities. His ministry is ready to participate constructively in this intensive European legislative work and to cooperate closely with the member states, he vowed.
Healthcare has been a consistent government talking point in the government’s messaging. Márton Hajdu, chairman of the Hungarian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg on June 22 that the governing Tisza Party intends to use its political capital to address Hungary’s real problems in healthcare, education and the economy.
At an earlier government briefing, spokeswoman Anita Köböl announced that the government has decided to launch a hospital air conditioning program to repair or install AC equipment worth more than HUF 3.6 bln. The government aims to comprehensively renew outdated hospital cooling systems on a scheduled basis to adapt to changing weather conditions and improve patient safety, she said.
Budapest’s Szent László, Jahn Ferenc, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky, Szent Imre, Honvéd, and Heim Pál hospitals, as well as the National Oncology Institute and the hospitals of Győr, Kaposvár, and Miskolc, have all been earmarked for repairs. Köböl added that modern technologies would be applied nationwide to ensure the safe operation of operating theaters, intensive care units, maternity and oncology wards.
Speaking at the same briefing, Prime Minister Péter Magyar claimed that in 2024, the previous government had provided virtually no funds for the maintenance and development of hospital air conditioning units, and no funds had been planned for this purpose this year either.
Magyar said the HUF 3.6 bln now made available “should be enough to prevent huge shutdowns in operating theaters” and to avoid the need to postpone a large number of urgent surgeries. Magyar said the government has requested a medium- to long-term strategy from the Directorate General for Public Procurement and Supply to identify how much money is needed to maintain equipment and provide it in areas that do not yet have air conditioning but require it. He said he has instructed the health minister and the head of the directorate to accelerate an insulation program involving dozens of hospitals amounting to about HUF 60 bln.
Dr. Sándor Mihály, director of transplantation at the Hungarian National Blood Transfusion Service (OVSZ has been elected president of Eurotransplant’s Organ Process Chain Committee (OPCC), the advisory committee responsible for the organ donation and transplantation process chain. OVSZ said the appointment is a significant milestone, as it is the first time a Hungarian expert has been appointed to head Eurotransplant’s advisory board since Hungary joined the OPCC in 2013.
Health Minister Zsolt Hegedűs has been included in the New York Times article “The 39-ish Most Stylish People of 2026, So Far.” According to the caption to a photo of Hegedűs dancing in front of Parliament, “This Hungarian health minister’s pure lack of inhibition, after Hungary’s new prime minister ousted Viktor Orbán in the spring, is a rare thing, and infectious.”
This article was first published in the Budapest Business Journal print issue of July 17, 2026.
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