Péter Takács, Hungarian State Secretary for Health, apologized for having criticized the quality of Burgenland's ambulance service back in August. The governor of the province, Hans Peter Doskozil (SPÖ) said that heconsiders the gesture a peaceful conclusion to the matter, according to ORF.
Takács had criticized the Austrian province's ambulance service while being interviewed for the program called. "The Hour of Fighers" (Harcosok Órája). He had said that Burgenland's ambulances do not have a GPS or online dispatch control, and that they use magnetic boards to track the location of each ambulance. At the time, Takács also said that EU funds should be used to raise the standard of Burgenland's ambulances to that of the ones used by Hungary.
In early September, Doskozil wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, asking for a public retraction of the false and humiliating statements. A week later, since no such response followed, the head of the government coordination office, Robert Hergovich indicated that they were still waiting for an apology.
The Burgenland edition of ORF reported on Thursday that, according to the governor's office, they have recently received a response from the Hungarian Ministry of Interior (there is no separate ministry for health in Hungary, but a state secretariat under the ministry of interior is in charge of matters of healthcare – TN). In it, Takács issued an apology to the ambulance services, stating that his statements were made based on insufficient information.
"We are delighted that Hungary now also recognizes the high standard of the ambulance service and the commitment of its employees," Doskozil is reported as saying.
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