Government to centralise Hungary’s healthcare system

The government is submitting to parliament proposals aimed at reforming Hungary’s health-care system, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.

The proposals are aimed at improving basic care and the quality and accessibility of general practitioner care, the ministry said in a statement. Under the proposals, the state will assume greater responsibility in the organisation of general practices, filling vacant practices and creating a more even workload distribution among districts, it said. General practitioner care will be organised by the National Hospital Directorate-General in cooperation with local councils, it added.

Also, district nurses will be employed by the local hospitals, the ministry said. In the interest of improving hospital care, county hospitals will be given more power in organising care. Meanwhile, city hospitals will be given responsibilities in general practitioner on-call care and public health screenings.

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The proposals also include moving hospital nursing departments to the welfare system in the interest of patient safety and the efficient organisation of nursing and social tasks, the ministry said. The government will also strengthen its commitment to shortening hospital waiting lists and improving transparency, it added. The government also plans to continue raising the wages of doctors, the ministry said, noting that funding allocated for health-care wages will increase more than four-fold next year.