The Budapest Government Office ordered the closure of a private corrective eye surgery clinic in Budapest after twelve patients reported severe infections, resulting in the blinding of one person, according to Richárd Tarnai, the head of the office responsible for closing the clinic.
“Our primary concern is to make sure that citizens get services of proper standards and quality. If there is a problem in that regard, inquiries have to be conducted, fines levied, and in some cases licenses must be suspended or revoked,” Tarnai said.
Of the 12 mostly elderly patients injured, three suffered irreversible eyesight damage and one person was left permanently blind. All 12 needed additional surgery at a state hospital due to infections at the clinic.
Tamás Wittinghof, opposition mayor of the district where the clinic is located, said it was a “political witch-hunt”, but Tarnai added that the responsibility of the mayor must also be clarified, as indications are that the owner of the clinic is a close friend of Wittinghof.
“We have conducted a professional inquiry. But I have also read the press reports saying that the clinic is run by someone close to [Mayor Wittinghof]. It raises the very pertinent question of what role profit-orientation may have played in the tragedy. It is even more pertinent if we take into account the fact that the private medical facility also provides free medical services for refugees on the southern border, while also operating a luxury clinic in one of Budapest’s most upmarket districts of Pasarét,” Tarnai said.
Title image: Gyula Tarnai, head of the Budapest Government Office. (Magyar Nemzet/Máté Bach)
