Hungary’s doctor-to-patient ratio worsening

The patient number per general practitioner in Hungary has grown by an annual 2,000 over the past 16 years, while the number of GPs is constantly decreasing, daily Magyar Nemzet said on Friday, citing data from the Central Statistical Office (KSH).

In 2000, GP practices treated 47.5 million cases, compared with 50 million in 2008 and 55 million in 2016, the paper said.

Meanwhile the number of GPs decreased from 5,159 to 4,755.

Magyar Nemzet said this was likely why GPs are less and less likely to treat patients outside their practices. Whereas in 2006 GPs handled 4.2 million cases outside their practices, in 2016 they handled only 1.5 million.

According to KSH data, in 2016, there were 1,444 general paediatricians in Hungary treating a total of 1.417 children. That year, general paediatricians treated 10,050,895 cases in their practices and just 450,188 outside it.

Magyar Nemzet noted that while the number of permanently unfilled GP practices is rising, both in 2015 and 2016, the government was unable to pay out the total allocation of funds meant to support the settlement of GPs and help them buy practices.

Source: MTI