Health-care spending has grown from 1,100 billion forints to 3,200 billion in the past decade, Rétvári said at an awards ceremony held marking Semmelweis Day, adding that the number of doctors had also risen appreciably, with 1,000-1,500 graduating from medical universities each year, 1.5 times more than ten years ago.

While in 2010, there were close to 34,000 doctors, this has risen to more than 40,000, while those applying to work abroad has fallen to one third, he said.

Rétvári noted the positive effects on the ban on so-called gratuity payments to doctors which had distorted the health-care system for around 70 years, adding that at end of last year only 1% of Hungarians saw gratuity as a problem.