Hungarian GPs could face €13k fine for refusing to administer vaccines

Coronavirus Koronavírus Vakcina Vaccine General Practitioner Családi Orvos 2

Photo: MTI/Komka Péter

A new decree states that family physicians have to spend at least one weekend administering vaccines on top of their usual working hours.

A new decree will be in effect in Hungary starting January 2022. The decree states that family physicians have to spend at least one weekend administering vaccines on top of their usual working hours. – writes hvg.hu. The official announcement was published on 27 December.

According to the document, family doctors can choose from three options. The first one is to work on at least one weekend between 1 January and 31 January 2022. Their second option is to work on a Friday or a Saturday in consultation with the county vaccination committee. The third option is to administer vaccines, working from 2 pm to 6 pm on Fridays and from 10 am to 6 pm on Saturdays.

If a doctor refuses to participate in the “volunteering” program, they could be fined for a sum of 30,000 (EUR 81) to 5 million forints (EUR 13,536).

Index writes that doctors also have the responsibility to inform their patients of the opportunity to take the vaccine. At the beginning of 2021, Zoltán Soós head of the general medical group of the Hungarian Medical Chamber said that about a quarter of family doctors would not like to administer vaccines, or cannot administer vaccines in the course of the vaccination program.

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Doctors are obligated to call back their patients on the phone as soon as they can. Miklós Kásler, head of ministry of Ministry of Human Resources also ordered that doctors do covid tests for every patient suspected to have the virus. The test can be done at the consulting room, at the patient’s place of residence or any other suitable place based on what they agree on. – writes hvg.hu.

Infostart writes that the national collegial professional leader of general practitioners, Szabolcs Békássy, said that imposing fines is not the right way to encourage doctors to vaccinate more people. He said that general practitioners had a part in vaccinating people before the new decree came out. 24.hu writes that “in the fall, more than 47 percent of booster doses were administered at GP practices” during working hours.

According to data on koronavirus.gov.hu, there were 6,252,653 vaccinated people as of 28 December. There were 22,465 people infected with the virus in Budapest and 94,313 in rural Hungary. 180,980 people were considered healed from the virus in Budapest and 910,037 in rural areas. 15,775 people were quarantined in their homes. The data showed that 6,587 people died in Budapest and 32,307 passed away in rural Hungary. The information indicates that 9,119,505 samples were taken.