About the Health Industry: Through the Eyes of a Lobbyist

The Vice-President of General Electric Magyarország, Endre Ascsillán, discussed several topics in his presentation given at the Faculty of Public Health, including the role of communication in health policy, cost-effective health care and the significance of the programs offered by the UD.

“It is through efficient communication and an effective set of tools that we can make sure that broadly available, high-quality and cost-effective solutions serve the purposes of healing the patients and running the system of health care in all areas from prevention to treatment,” said Endre Ascsillán in his talk delivered to students enrolled in the English-language public health master’s program.

The Vice-President of General Electric Magyarország emphasized the diverse quality of the health industry. He called the attention of the students to the fact that the biggest challenge in this field is posed by the necessity to understand the different interests of the various actors in health care and the need to coordinate these interests. The latter of these two tasks constitutes the basis for operating the health care system as efficiently as possible. Apart from examples from abroad, he also analyzed the local peculiarities in Hungary.

“Hungarian health care can boast of a number of traditions that incorporate great possibilities and potential promises. One of these, for example, is the fact that the data of 10 million insured patients are handled by a single insurance company. Thus, the huge amount of data that is fed into the system on a daily basis is stored at one single location, which is of vital importance from the aspect of research and development. In fact, Hungary is at the disposal of a laboratory environment in the digitalization of health care, which might represent a massive competitive edge, as opposed to the situation in Germany, where the relevant data is collected by as many as 2400 different insurance companies,” said Endre Ascsillán.

The Vice-President of GE also considered the educational background behind Hungarian health care quite outstanding. He underlined that the Hungarian centers of medical education and training that are also internationally acclaimed could also significantly contribute to the development of the health care system.

“The role of the University of Debrecen is unique, since it is the largest health-care service provider in the nation in addition to being a medical school and training center. It is also a research laboratory of the highest quality, where it can be tested how to introduce the most efficient solutions as fast as possible. Besides, this is where the only Faculty of Public Health in Hungary is located. This is the special field that can guarantee proper access for various groups of society to prevention programs, through which the entire society could remain healthier,” said the expert.

The University of Debrecen has recently asked Endre Ascsillán to head its Mérnöki és Üzletfejlesztési Innovációs Intézet [Institute for Innovation in Engineering and Business Development], established jointly with GE. The objective of this cooperation is to assist young professionals who can contribute to the properly operating university system of programs by applying the necessary knowledge required for the solution of everyday problems. Students are thus provided with positions for practical training, where they can acquire first-hand experience about the modern technologies and solutions that are the most important from the aspect of competitiveness, be that in the field digitalization, Industry 4.0, regulatory techniques or management of human resources. For business development purposes, young entrepreneurs are also supported with favorable conditions in training, mentoring and taking out loans for capital investment. The following individuals participate in the operation of the institute: Jörg Bauer, President  and CEO of Tungsram Group, Gergő Lencsés, GE General Manager and Worldwide Product Head of Gas Turbine Production, Attila Dezső, member of the jurisprudence-analyzing working group of Curia on public procurement, and Gergely Szabó, CEO of MET Hungary Ltd. The presentation, which was delivered on Wednesday, was the first public lecture held by the Institute for Innovation in Engineering and Business Development at the Faculty of Public Health.

 

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