Magyar said in a statement that many hospitals were without heating, and children's wards were no warmer than 15 C.

Meanwhile, the price of flour has grown by 40 percent in a year, that of chocolate by 30 percent and the price of dairy products by 20 percent, he said.

He said the rail line between Veszprem and Ajka, in western Hungary, renovated six years ago, had become life-threatening and had to be closed down for six months. In other places, trains cannot travel faster than 10kmh, he added.

"Public services are falling apart, and the state is not functional," he added.

Meanwhile, "ridiculously, [Prime Minister] Viktor Orban and others are trying to divert attention from all that by the well-worn method of panic-mongering."
 

"The government ranting about the threat of terrorism and launching a national security review has in past years directly interfered with the elections of other countries, let two thousand people smugglers go from prisons, invited the former president of Iran to Hungary in secret, allowed heads of state and government with outstanding arrest warrants to stay in the country, rejected the International Criminal Court's ruling regarding the prime minister of Israel, set free an Azeri axe murderer, directly supported dictators, and sent Hungarian soldiers into zones of civil war," Magyar said.

Peter Takacs, the interior ministry's state secretary for health care, said in response to the accusation that heating was failing at hospitals.

"Magyar started another day with lies and fake news". Tisza said that the heating had failed at the children's traumatology ward at Szent Janos Hospital, but heating is working there, Takacs said on Facebook.

The heating system of the entire hospital was revamped this year at a cost of 2.8 billion forints (EUR 6.8m), he said, and the post-reconstruction works would soon be over, "so not even that will inconvenience the sick children".

"Peter Magyar is lying constantly; about hospitals and anything else, without ever considering the consequences," Takacs said.

Magyar said in response on Facebook that Takacs "has no idea what's going on in Hungarian hospitals". The Szent Laszlo hospital in Budapest "has no heating, the waiting area for specialist treatments is 16 C, children are lying in their coats in bed on the immunology ward, and the situation is no better at the dialysis and wards."

The hospital's central heating unit broke down a month ago, and staff were told that repair work would start in January, and "might work again by February", Magyar said.

Meanwhile, Poll – Fidesz would win 61 pc parlt majority in election – Nezopont

The ruling alliance of Fidesz and the Christian Democrats would win a 61 percent majority in parliament if elections were held this Sunday, according to a fresh poll by the Nezopont Institute.

Among those who are certain or likely to vote, Fidesz-KDNP's list would capture 47 percent of the vote in a general election, Nezopont said in statement on Monday.

Fidesz’s nearest opposition rival, the Tisza Party, would get 37 percent, with the leftist Democratic Coalition just clearing the 5 percent threshold for seats in parliament.

According to Nezopont’s model, Fidesz would win 74 electoral district races, giving it 121 seats in the 199-seat parliament. Tisza would win the remaining 32 constituencies, giving it 71 seats, with DK winning 6 and the ethnic German minority 1 seat.

Taking the voting population as a whole, the ruling parties are backed by 38 percent of the electorate, with Tisza on 25 percent.

Nezopont's phone poll was carried out between December 9 and 11, with a sample of 1,000 adults.

Source: 
MTI - The Hungarian News Agency, founded in 1881.

*********************************

You're very welcome to comment, discuss and enjoy more stories via our Facebook page: 
Facebook.com/XpatLoopNews + via XpatLoop’s groups: Budapest Expats / Expats Hungary

You can subscribe to our newsletter here: XpatLoop.com/Newsletters

Do you want your business to reach tens of thousands of potential high-value expat customers? Then just contact us here.