Shortage of Doctors Getting Worse in Hungary

There are more and more vacant posts in healthcare, more and more patients per family doctor, while the number of pediatric practices is decreasing, according to an analysis by the Central Statistical Office (KSH) reviewed by the financial website portfolio.hu.

GP services are not always available locally for people living in the smallest settlements. 10% of GP practices were run by a locum, the vast majority of them without a doctor, and the number of locums has nearly tripled in the last decade.

In 2021, there were 7,510 vacancies in the health sector, 3.8% more than in the previous year, with nearly half of them for specialists and nearly a fifth for doctors. 3.4% of doctor posts and 3.5% of professional posts were vacant. Most doctors were missing in Győr-Moson-Sopron County, NW Hungary (8.3%), with 10 counties having a higher-than-average shortage of doctors, KSH said.

The average number of registered residents per general practitioner was 1,959 in 2021, and for a general pediatrician 1,076, and has been slowly rising for years. The average number of visits per registered GP was seven in 2021.

There were 6,516 general practitioners and general pediatricians in the country in 2021, 168 fewer than ten years earlier. GP services are not always available locally for people living in the smallest municipalities, affecting 5.5% of the population in 2021. The proportion is highest in districts with small villages.