During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hungary produced the European Union's highest per capita death rate — within a healthcare system rendered vulnerable by decades of underfunding plus doctor emigration. The tragedy was capped by a 300 billion HUF opaque ventilator procurement scandal, whose documents were destroyed by the Foreign Ministry.
COVID-19 death rate data in international comparison — why what happened in Hungary was not simply a "natural disaster."
By mid-2021, Hungary produced the highest COVID death rate in the European Union: more than 3,000 deaths per million inhabitants. In April 2021, Bloomberg identified Hungary as the country with the world's highest death rate. According to the OECD country profile, nearly 10,000 people had died of COVID by the end of 2020 — by mid-2021 this number had tripled.
Source: Statista, Johns Hopkins University
The difference cannot be explained merely by the proportion of elderly population or the nature of the virus. Scandinavian plus Western European countries — facing similar demographic challenges — lost a fraction of the casualties. The key lies in the state of the healthcare system, hospital capacity, staffing levels, plus the quality of government decisions.
Health spending was 4.9% of GDP in 2016 — the EU average was 7.8%. In 2020, it was 7.3% while the EU average reached 10.9%.
Over a decade, 8,500 doctors sought authorization for work abroad. In 2022 alone, 800 left. Only 3.5 doctors per 1,000 residents — EU average is 3.9.
Hungary had the third-lowest testing rate in the EU in summer 2020, making it impossible to identify infected persons.
Human Rights Watch documented: wards without soap, waste containers emptied every 3-4 days, cleaning done every few days. Hospital infection rates are dramatically higher than in Western Europe.
The minister banned healthcare workers from speaking to media. 130 people were arrested for "spreading false rumors" during the pandemic. Orbán was caught on camera interrupting a doctor who was discussing ventilator staff shortages.
Since 2020, over 770 hospital wards closed or suspended services due to staffing shortages. One-fifth of doctors are over 65.
The COVID pandemic did not strike a strong healthcare system — it struck one systematically dismantled over decades.
Hungary's healthcare system was already in crisis before the pandemic. During the Orbán government's ten years, healthcare was not a priority: spending as a share of GDP consistently remained below the EU average. According to the 2016 WHO report, Hungarian public healthcare spending was 4.9% of GDP, while the EU average was 7.8%.
Mass doctor emigration shattered the system's backbone. Since 2010, 8,500 doctors have sought authorization for foreign work — primarily to Germany, Austria, the United Kingdom, plus Sweden. According to Euronews, in 2022 alone, 800 left in a single year. During the pandemic, Hungarian hospitals produced the EU's second-highest death rate — directly linked to staff shortages.
Dr. Péter Körmendi — a doctor who worked in intensive care in both Hungary plus Austria during the pandemic — says the biggest difference was the patient-to-nurse ratio: in Austria, one nurse cared for 1-2 intensive patients; in Hungary, 6-8. According to a 2020 Human Rights Watch report, protective equipment shortages also contributed to high infection rates among healthcare workers: by May 2020, 576 healthcare workers were infected — 14.8% of all known cases.
Hospital debt ballooned to 104 billion HUF by the end of 2023. Surgeries had to be postponed due to equipment plus medicine shortages. Dr. Péter Álmos, president of the Medical Chamber, emphasized that Hungary has the EU's highest cancer mortality, plus screening participation continues to decline.
300 billion HUF of public money, 16,863 ventilators — of which 12,000 sit unopened gathering dust in a Gödöllő warehouse.
In spring 2020 — during the first wave of the pandemic — the Foreign Ministry led by Péter Szijjártó purchased more than 16,000 ventilators for approximately 300 billion HUF. This was done despite Viktor Orbán's own calculation that in the worst-case scenario, at most 8,000 units would be needed — plus hospital staff could operate a maximum of 1,200 devices simultaneously.
The procurements were conducted without proper bidding or oversight, citing emergency pandemic conditions. Units were predominantly imported from China through intermediaries of unknown background. Direkt36 found that Hungary struck the worst deal in the entire EU — while the government presented the purchases as a success.
A disreputable Malaysian businessman sold 6,258 ventilators to the government for 173 billion HUF. From the deal, he bought a private jet plus a luxury yacht.
The company sold 1,000 Chinese units for 17 billion HUF. Profit of 20 billion in two years. The owner then dissolved the company without a successor.
Szijjártó enthusiastically presented "world-class" Hungarian manufacturing. The 1,000 units began delivery when 15,000 Chinese devices already sat in storage. The manufacturer became unprofitable again in 2021; ventilators disappeared from its website.
HVG revealed: the Foreign Ministry not only purchased unnecessarily but also had half of the unreasonably large quantity unpacked plus inspected — with only two "selected" companies doing the work, for additional billions.
Direkt36 refuted Szijjártó's defense: Eurostat data shows Hungary paid proportionally far more than any other EU member state. The Foreign Ministry's state secretary defended it by saying "whoever wanted to buy more had to pay more" — the data does not support this claim.
Meanwhile, in hospitals, over 90% of COVID patients on ventilators died. The tragic mortality rate is partly explained by the lack of trained specialist staff to operate the machines — precisely the problem a doctor tried to point out in Viktor Orbán's presence, prompting the prime minister to interrupt him.
What cannot be inspected cannot be held accountable.
Transparency International Hungary revealed: the Foreign Ministry destroyed significant parts of the ventilator procurement documents in November 2021 — barely 18 months after the purchases. Among other things, they destroyed documents proving the questionable background of the Malaysian supplier GR Technologies.
The document destruction was illegal: under Hungarian archival law, documents should have been retained for at least 10 years. The intermediary companies set up for these deals were liquidated without successors after realizing massive profits — so parliamentary committees plus courts cannot later investigate contract details.
When Egon Rónai confronted Péter Szijjártó on ATV about document destruction, the minister responded: "Well, frankly I have no idea. I don't know about it, I certainly didn't give such an order."
In 2024, a final court ruling ordered the Foreign Ministry to release remaining documents. The ministry appealed to the Supreme Court. Momentum MP Márton Tompos sent bailiffs to the ministry — documents have still not been fully released.
The health ministry state secretary's brother-in-law's company made billions from the ventilator business — while Takács Péter was a senior leader of state hospitals.
In summer 2025, Kulja András, Tisza Party MEP, revealed that Péter Takács, the current health ministry state secretary, had family members who directly profited from ventilator procurements. Péter Takács served as deputy head of the National Hospital Directorate (OKFŐ) from 2020–2022 — meaning he was a senior leader of state hospitals precisely during the billion-forint procurement period.
The Foreign Ministry tasked Fourcardinal Advisory Ltd. with procuring, among other items, a thousand ventilators, patient monitors, plus infusion pumps — totaling 17 billion HUF. On the day the contract was signed, a new owner appeared: SRF Silk Road Fund Holding Ltd., acquiring a 10% stake in Fourcardinal — but claiming 87.5% of profits in return.
One of the company's leaders — an authorized executive with signing power from its creation to liquidation — was none other than Gábor Árpád Kőszegi, the brother of Péter Takács's wife, making him the state secretary's brother-in-law. Válasz Online revealed the company's address matched previous family business locations — where Takács's wife Éva Kőszegi plus her brother grew up, plus where they had previously operated a joint company.
According to HVG, Fourcardinal generated 15.9 billion HUF profit in 2020, of which 15.4 billion was distributed as dividends to owners — including Silk Road Fund Holding. Silk Road Holding realized another 8 billion HUF in profit in 2021. Both companies were subsequently liquidated: Fourcardinal in September 2021, Silk Road in 2022 — without successors.
Transparency International Hungary found that some payments were not made to the ventilator supply company but likely to Silk Road Development Fund Management Holding Ltd. in Hong Kong plus Havelock International Ltd. in Singapore. The Foreign Ministry has not answered Transparency International's public information request.
According to the K-Monitor database, ventilator business players are tightly intertwined: Fourcardinal's other owner, Beatrix Nagy's mother — Ildikó Szegi — is closely connected to Viktor Orbán's international chief adviser, Zsuzsanna Rahói. One of Silk Road Fund's founders is Zsolt Vámosi-Nagy, who also appeared in Chinese vaccine procurement. The company's former CEO is Márk Szeverényi — the brother-in-law of Péter Szabó, a former deputy to Péter Szijjártó.
The state secretary denied the allegations in five points: his relatives were not company owners, his brother-in-law was merely an employee, he himself was still a hospital director in spring 2020 plus not at the OKFŐ, neither he nor his family members received income from the transaction. The Interior Ministry confirmed Takács's position. However, Kulja argues that the state secretary's brother-in-law had signing authority as an executive in a company that made billions from the pandemic.
Péter Takács filed charges against András Kulja for defamation. The authorities requested the European Parliament suspend Kulja's immunity — meaning the government's response to conflict-of-interest disclosure was not investigation but legal action against the whistleblower.
Péter Magyar, Tisza Party president, stated: whoever was deputy head of the OKFŐ during the COVID pandemic — meaning they were complicit in Hungary's worst-in-the-world death rate statistics — should have "no role in leading Hungarian healthcare."
Major decisions plus failures in chronological order.
Healthcare spending as a share of GDP persistently below EU average. Eight thousand five hundred doctors seek work authorization abroad. Hospital wards struggle with staffing shortages; equipment shortages are daily. The "gratuity" system deepens inequalities further.
The government declares emergency. Shifts to decree-based governance. Medical equipment procurements exempted from competitive bidding — opening the door for the ventilator business.
The Foreign Ministry begins its 300 billion HUF purchasing wave. 16,863 units arrive, mostly from China, through unknown intermediaries, at multiples of market price. Quantity exceeds the most pessimistic estimates twofold.
The government orders hospital beds cleared for COVID patients. Care for non-COVID patients halts or is delayed — many of them die in the following months from consequences of deferred treatment.
After low initial death tolls, the government declares victory. Restrictions lifted. Mask-wearing plus contact tracing de-emphasized. No preparation of healthcare system for second wave.
Deaths surge dramatically. Nearly 10,000 excess deaths in Q4 2020. In April 2021, Bloomberg identifies Hungary as the world's highest death-rate country. Hospitals overwhelmed, staff exhausted.
Szijjártó showcases Hungarian-made ventilators. Production begins just as 15,000 Chinese units already fill storage. The manufacturer becomes unprofitable again in 2021; product vanishes from website.
The Foreign Ministry illegally destroys significant portions of ventilator procurement records — barely 18 months after purchase. Intermediary companies liquidated.
12,145 units sit unopened in Gödöllő warehouse. Storage costs 82.5 million HUF monthly. Cannot be sold. Despite final court ruling, Foreign Ministry appeals. Government-party candidates go silent on the issue.
Hungary's COVID catastrophe was not inevitable. It was not a natural disaster that drove the death tolls, but decades of government negligence that left a healthcare system unprepared for pandemic — followed by decisions made during the pandemic that served opaque public spending, not saving lives.
The facts in summary:
Systematic healthcare dismantling — decades of underfunding, 8,500 doctor emigration, closure of hundreds of hospital wards — left Hungary as one of the EU's most vulnerable member states during the pandemic.
Record-breaking death toll — Hungary produced the EU's highest per capita death rate, which neither demographics nor virus properties alone explain. Western European countries under similar conditions lost a fraction of the casualties.
300 billion HUF for ventilators — more than twice the needed quantity, marked up 20-30 times compared to other EU countries, through unknown intermediaries, without competitive bidding. Seventy percent of units sit unopened in storage; intermediary companies vanished; documents were destroyed.
Lack of accountability — no parliamentary investigation committee, no authority investigation, government appeals court rulings, government-party politicians either look surprised or give no answer at all.