Medical salaries: modified by a proposal to increase the government

Horváth also said that the medical chamber’s request was for the salary increase to be made in several stages, over several years, but that the withdrawal of the thank you money should be tied to a larger stage. This is the biggest step in the next year, he added. He stressed that the chamber had believed in the need to punish the use of gratitude money, which the board viewed as an undue advantage.

Bence Rétvári, Parliamentary Secretary of State for the Human Resources Ministry, reported that starting in 2023, a doctor with 40 years of experience could earn HUF 2,380,000 and the starting salary would increase to HUF 687,000.

The bill was presented to the House on Monday and MEPs are expected to vote on it on Tuesday in an exceptional procedure.

Gergely Gulyás also spoke about the changes late Monday night.

At the government’s proposal, the Hungarian Medical Chamber adopted all the amendments to be dealt with at the statutory level at the legislative meeting of the parliamentary commission on Monday evening – said Gergely Gulyás, the head of the MTI Prime Minister’s office.

Thus, the Legislative Committee finally unanimously – with the support of the government parties and all opposition parties, with 31 votes in favor and no vote against – supported the health bill presented by the government in the morning Monday, including an increase in medical salaries, the minister said.

According to this, it is only possible to deviate upwards from the established salary scale, by a maximum of 20 percent – said Gergely Gulyás.

Interestingly, after 11pm on Monday night, the amendments were not yet available on the proposal page.

The amendments mentioned in the MTI report do not cover all the objections of the Hungarian Medical Chamber, which were listed in its letter to Minister Miklós Kásler. So the question is to what extent the new version will comply with the MOK.

The main objections of the defense organization are as follows (pdf):

• The salary scale gives the possibility of differentiating by deviating down from the amounts written on it. As it is 40% (± 20%), this could eliminate a significant part of the salary increase. Therefore, the possibility of downward drift should be eliminated or an additional 20% wage increase should be incorporated into the pay scale.
• An academic or university degree is not paid with the salary scale, it must be elevated in some way.
• It is also necessary to address the situation of health workers as entrepreneurs.
• The conditions for limiting second employment must be set out in a government decree (current regulation would solve this problem through individual assessment).

Cover image: Getty Images