Olympic champions ask PM to protect sports hospital

The Club of Hungarian Olympic Champions (Magyar Olimpiai Bajnokok Klubja) has sent an open letter to Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány, asking him to ensure the undisturbed operation of the National Sports Health Institute (Országos Sportegészségügyi Intézet; OSEI). All but a small list of "priviliged" hospitals are threatened by funding cuts as part of government austerity measures.

The letter stresses that athletes cannot compete with the best in the world unless assisted by qualified sports doctors. "As former sports minister, you probably remember that the National Sports Health Institute performs indispensable tasks during Olympic preparations, in medical treatment of former Olympic gold winners, world and Olympic champions and in assisting the national networkof sports doctors," writes the letter addressed to Gyurcsány.

On Tuesday of last week, 13 MPs - including Hungarian Olympic Committee (MOB) Vice-President Tibor Bakonyi - submitted a proposal regarding the further operation of the OSEI to the Parliament. According to the proposal, Hungary needs a locomotive treatment center functioning as a priority health institute where the knowledge assembled during the past decades - which made the OSEI world-famous - could be used. The proposal states that the network assisting athletes should not be tampered with, otherwise the preparation for the Beijing Olympic Games would be endangered.

The OSEI, also known as the Sports Hospital (Sportkórház), was voted "Hospital of the Year" by readers of leading health portal HáziPatika.com in 2005.

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