Health Systems in Transition - Hungary - World Health Organization ...

5.0
4.5
4.0
3.5
3.0
2.5
2.0
Health systems in transition Hungary 115
and 2007, the task of collecting and maintaining data on physician registrations
was the responsibility of the Hungarian Medical Chamber. Since then, the task
has fallen within the remit of the OHAAP.
Other sources of data help provide a clearer picture. Using payroll data from
44 089 individuals working in 130 public institutions to estimate the number of
health professionals, the quarterly report of the NISHR from 2011 found that
the absolute number of physicians working in inpatient and outpatient care had
dropped substantially between 2003 and 2010, falling from 19 503 to 16 913
(NISHR, 2011a). Here it is important to note that this source did not take account
of physicians who may have switched from the status of a public employee to
that of a private entrepreneur while continuing to work in the same hospital.
Because private entrepreneurs do not appear on the hospital payroll, a large
number of switches to the status of private entrepreneur could make a decline
in the total number of physicians appear artificially large. Another factor to
consider is that increased professional mobility may contribute to the overall
decline in the numbers of physicians in the near future (see section 4.2.2).
Fig. 4.5
Number of physicians per 1000 population in Hungary and selected countries,
1990–2009 (or latest available year)
Source: WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2011.
Slovakia
1990
1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Czech Republic
EU15
EU27
Physicians in Hungary are unevenly distributed, both in terms of geography
and specialties. Excluding counties with medical universities, the average
number of practising physicians was lowest in Békés County, with 1.5 physicians
Austria
Hungary
EU12
Poland