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

Health systems in transition Hungary 127
epidemiology, health promotion and health administration, including the
registration, licensing and professional supervision of health care providers
and pharmacies. In turn, the regional offices are responsible for implementing
these tasks either directly or through their subregional offices. To perform
these duties, the regional offices employ medical officers, pharmacy officers
and MCH nurse officers. Each of these groups of professionals is directed by a
national and a regional chief officer.
In terms of the organization and financing of health care, the most
important health administration duties of the NPHMOS are to take decisions
on the modification of specialist capacities and to designate the borders of
health care providers’ catchment areas within the framework of the territorial
supply obligation. These tasks were assigned to the regional offices of the
NPHMOS (and, in cases of inter-regional redistribution, the National Chief
Medical Officer) in late 2008, when the previous system of capacity planning
and distribution was found to be unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court.
The work of NPHMOS is supported by nine National Institutes of Health,
which carry out methodological, scientific, educational, administrative,
professional supervisory and expert consultancy tasks in various domains of
public health and personal health services (2006/22). The National Institute
for Epidemiology is responsible for the supervision of immunobiological
preparations and diagnostics, epidemiological and clinical microbiology and
for the surveillance of communicable diseases based on a system of compulsory
reporting by medical practitioners (1998/6, 2010/5). The National Institute
for Health Development is responsible for prevention, health education and
health promotion. The Institute coordinates the NPHP and organizes lifestyle
counselling, as well as education and information provision programmes. The
National Institute for Environmental Health controls and coordinates activities
that monitor, evaluate and maintain the quality of air, water and soil, while
the Frédéric Joliot-Curie National Research Institute for Radiobiology and
Radiohygiene and the National Institute for Food and Nutrition Science supervise
and control the areas corresponding to their names. The National Institute of
Chemical Safety deals with toxicology and chemical risk evaluation (2010/6).
The Institute operates the Health Care Toxicology Information Service, which
maintains a database registering dangerous substances, provides information
around the clock by telephone or in writing to health professionals, authorities
and the general public, and also collects and analyses data and prepares an
annual report on cases of poisoning reported by health care providers.