The monthly wages of doctors will be increased by a further 100,000 forints (EUR 322) and pharmacists and junior doctors can expect an extra 50,000 forints from next month, he said. The wages of other health-care workers will be raised by 12%, he added.

The cabinet has also decided to settle the outstanding debts accumulated by hospitals and to provide help to health-care institutions that are committed to implementing structural reorganisation measures with a view to reducing their debts in the long term, Lázár said.

On another subject, Lázár said that the digitalisation of all data generated by Hungary’s health services will start in November, creating an “electronic health service space”.

He added that the data generated in hospitals, outpatient clinics, GPs’ offices and pharmacies will be put into a central registry to create a “more transparent, more practicable” system.

He added that 25,000 scanners to facilitate data collection have been delivered to health-care personnel, while another 14,000 were on their way.

Republished with permission of Hungary Matters, MTI’s daily newsletter.

MTI photo: Kovács Attila