Supreme court rules in bribe cases of obstetricians, gynaecologists

Budapest, May 5 (MTI) – Hungary’s supreme court, the Kuria, on Tuesday ruled against state-sector obstetricians and gynaecologists for soliciting gratuity payments from patients.

According to the indictment, eleven gynaecologists and two obstetricians solicited payment for assisting births in over 20 instances in the public health system between April 2007 and July 2008. An investigation was launched after public complaints.

The doctors denied either asking for or accepting any payment. Court documents show, however, that gynaecologists, obstetricians and midwives received payments of between 2,000 and 80,000 forints (EUR 266) per birth.

In its ruling last March, a Budapest municipal court fined ten suspects 2 million forints each and handed down a suspended prison sentence to one obstetrician.

An Budapest appellate court then acquitted several of the indicted and reduced the sentences of others. Seven doctors then lodged an appeal with the Kuria, which set a 95,000 forint (EUR 312) fine in the case of one obstetrician. Most of the suspects were put on probation without being fined while several were acquitted or reprimanded.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters