Hungarian Medical Chamber Letter to the Prime Minister

"During the coronavirus epidemic, the Hungarian medical community, with the risk of their own lives and the lives of their loved ones, did their best, but at the same time, the epidemic highlighted that the structural and financial renewal of Hungarian healthcare has become urgent."

That is how the letter, written by Dr. Gyula Kincses, President of the Hungarian Medical Chamber to PM Viktor Orbán, starts, highlighting the low financial appreciation of doctors in Hungary.

"Without a solid, yet flexible and efficient public health service, the country's society and economy could suffer severe damage in the short term," the letter says. It calls attention to the fact that "private health care is not a solution in itself and is not accessible to millions of Hungarians: it is not able to function fully, guaranteeing patient safety not only in the more severe phase of the epidemic, but also for reasons of organization and equipment, during the busy period of restarting health care.

"The protection of the health of the Hungarian people can no longer be built on net wages equaling that of those working in fast food restaurant and on salaries of specialist doctors under the level earned by medical and professional specialists, which are the same as those of skilled workmen," the latter states.

Without a wage settlement, the emigration of doctors cannot be stopped, local health care cannot be guaranteed, effective control of the epidemic cannot be guaranteed, the gratitude money system cannot be abolished and the active cooperation of doctors cannot be gained for the ongoing health care transformation.