Last year almost 7,000 infections causing severe diarrhoea occurred in Hungarian hospitals, and 103 outbreaks happened within their walls. According to the statistics published on Thursday by the public health centre, there are enormous differences even between institutions with similar profiles. The standard of the work aimed at preventing infections can vary greatly from one institution to another.

In a complete turnaround from its former secretive attitude, the National Centre for Public Health and Pharmacy will publish datasets of hospital-acquired infections by Friday morning and make it searchable on an interactive platform. Every year these infections cause unnecessary suffering and serious complications for thousands of hospital patients, yet so far there has been no success in curbing their spread.

Two women whose suffering reflects the crisis in the Hungarian healthcare system were treated at the clinics of Semmelweis University. The mistreatment is also common in other hospitals, and the government is aware of it, but has not taken any meaningful action. Direkt36’s healthcare investigation continues.

Although Hungarian hospitals have made some progress, they still lag significantly behind the European average. Direkt36 has obtained data showing which Hungarian hospitals are lagging behind the most in taking infection tests or hand disinfection.

Never before has it been possible to get a deeper look into the most frightening corners of the Hungarian health system. Direkt36 has obtained the latest data on hospital-acquired infections between 2017 and 2022.

According to an internal document of the Ministry of Interior leaked to Direkt36, health care authorities are aware of the gravity of problems caused by hospital-acquired infections in Hungary. Miniszter Sándor Pintér is involed in the deliberations, and measures were proposed to address the crisis. However, according to the leaked document funding for improvement will be scarce.

Direkt36 has spent more than a year investigating the worsening situation of hospital-acquired infections in Hungary. Watch our documentary film that tells the story of several victims and exposes the shortcomings of the Hungarian health-care system that lead to the problem.

While the spread of dangerous hospital-acquired infections is a growing problem in Hungary every year, it is being successfully managed elsewhere. In England, this problem has been solved with a lot of attention and radical transparency. In other words, they have done almost the opposite of what is happening in Hungary. Part four of Direkt36’s Semmelweis Project.

A 35-year-old mother has contracted a serious hospital infection because she was left for hours without changing a contaminated diaper that was put on her after an operation. In the third part of the Semmelweis Project, Direkt36 looks at how hospital conditions can cause such infections.

For the first time, we publish a ranking of how Hungarian hospitals compare to each other based on the handling of hospital-acquired infections. One of the most problematic institutions itself admits to have conditions typical of the 1950s. Semmelweis Project, Part II.