Oltalom Hospital

Fellow-workers:

The team of 13 doctors is composed of highly competent professionals with certifications in internal medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, neurology, surgery, vascular surgery, plastic surgery, anesthesiology, intensive therapy, radiology, dental and oral care, dermatology, bacteriology, pathology, public health and medical science. The nursing staff and other professionals include: social workers, psychologist, and physiotherapist. All of our professionals provide high-quality, outstanding care.

Typical diseases:

There’s a very appropriate expression that goes: not everyone who is sick is homeless but everyone who is homeless is sick. We have found that they are not only sick but most of them have several sicknesses. Examinations of 928 cases show that more than 50% of our patients (480 persons) are chronic alcoholics. No more than 5 of our patients declared themselves to be abstinent. The chronic alcoholics we serve suffer from considerably increased enzyme values, hepatic enlargement; pre-delirium and delirium tremens. With a large number of the alcoholics (173 cases), skin diseases are also present because of deficient hygiene, insufficient food and chronic disorder of nutrient absorptionand malabsorption due to chronic alcohol consumption. 

We treated 169 persons with traumatic injury; most of them were related to alcohol consumption. 

There are also large number of patients with cardiovascular disease (163). Among them there were patients with valvular insufficiency (waiting for surgery); coronary artery disease; and embolism (waiting for surgery) where the primary cause was smoking.  There is no doubt that their condition was exacerbated by the difficulties of their lifestyle (many of them were forced to spend the coldest winter days on the street). There were 115 patients with respiratory illnesses possibly precipitated by smoking. The most frequent sicknesses are emphysema and chronic bronchitis. 

Since we treat mostly male patients in our hospital, we don’t see many gynecological diseases. However, we deal with every other sort of illness. We would like to highlight that we treated 7 hypothermal patients although there’s a special medical division in Budapest for hypothermal cases. Last but not at least, the most important problem is the fate of people with tuberculosis. Out of 642 cases examined, there were 73 infectious cases (11,4%). These patients should be sent to pulmonary wards but their transfer is almost always difficult. It is hard to screen and follow up with the wandering homeless. It is well-known that tuberculosis is increasing all over the world, not just among homeless but in other inadequate social environments. Insufficient food and chronic consumption of alcohol make the homeless an endangered population. Still, transferring them into pulmonary wards is quite difficult and even if it happens, they are expelled at the first given opportunity or their treatment is shorter than of a “normal” citizen. 

The no longer infectious homeless persons disappear, their regular intake of food is not assured, their intake of medicine is not controlled and most of them never reach complete recovery. No wonder that we meet more and more therapy-resistant cases of tuberculosis.

Demographics are as follows: the majority (40%) is between 40 and 50; they became homeless because of the reductions at their workplaces or divorce. The age group of 50 to 60 (27%) is nearly as high and in recent times, the number of homeless persons above 60 has increased (13%). Only a very small portion appears to have irresponsibly wasted their home security. The greater part has become a burden to their family or cannot support a flat with their pension. The youngest age-group has also appeared with an increasing number; they are – for the most part – without family support and/or have psychiatric problems.

Turn over facts in the 1. Yearly reports