The government pushed through the law crushing the medical chamber

RockedBuzz
By RockedBuzz 5 Min Read

The law, which on Tuesday, at the initiative of the government, was adopted by the representatives without abstentions with 122 votes in favor and 31 against, MTI reported, abolishes the mandatory chamber membership of doctors.

The legislation submitted by the Minister of the Interior on Monday and adopted in an exceptional procedure on Tuesday states that medical activities can be carried out even without existing membership in the Hungarian Medical Chamber (MOK). Chamber membership can be terminated voluntarily and at any time.

The Hungarian Medical Chamber opposed the proposal at its press conference on Monday, according to Gyula Kincses, the MOK’s pressure was successful in order to improve the conditions of primary care, which is why the government decided to take action against the organization.

MOK currently has approximately 50,000 members, but this also includes pensioners. About 30,000 doctors work in public care, and the number of active members – including those working in private care – is certainly over 40,000. In their case, the mandatory membership will now cease.

The management of the organization asks the chamber members to confirm their membership in writing and, if they agree, to send a protest letter to the ministry. According to MOK representatives, they were also surprised by the bill, they had no idea that something like this was being prepared. They are confident that the majority of doctors will decide to maintain their chamber membership.

According to the government, it is the key to safe patient care

Péter Takács, the State Secretary responsible for health at the Ministry of the Interior, said in the Parliament about the proposal: it serves to ensure high-level, accessible and safe patient care for everyone.

He stated that “by obstructing the operation of the new on-call system and thereby endangering the health care of the Hungarian people, the chamber violates the basic rules of the nature of a democratic public body and disregards its own goals”. He claimed that according to him, the fact that the chamber openly threatens those doctors who do not share the opinion of the presidency and participate in the regional on-call care is reminiscent of “the darkest communist times”.

With this, he indicated that the conflict between the IOC and the government had escalated due to the restructuring of primary care. The cabinet is tthe health salad law adopted last December – and the state secretariat responsible for health of the Ministry of the Interior – introduced the regional on-call system. Medical on-calls are centralized here, so for example after 10:00 p.m. – with the exception of Budapest – the National Ambulance Service (OMSZ) takes care of the family doctor’s and family pediatrician’s calls by district. Doctors are also transferred centrally within this system.

After a longer preparation, the medical chamber responded officially and clearly to the government’s latest plans at the beginning of February, when the extraordinary national assembly of delegates was convened for the beginning of February. In this, they decided to recommend to their members: GPs should not sign the new on-call contracts, that they deposit the termination of their duty performance contracts, and that hospital doctors deposit the termination of their voluntary overtime work in case the negotiations with the government are unsuccessful.

It’s not just the membership that ends

The legislation transfers ongoing and future ethical procedures to the Health Science Council, as the new code of ethics is created by this organization and approved by the minister responsible for health. In the future, the chamber will only have the right to comment on the code of ethics.

Pursuant to the change, doctors can declare whether they will retain their chamber membership up to the thirtieth day after its entry into force. Those who do not make a declaration will have their membership terminated by operation of law.

A body appointed by the minister responsible for health and higher education acts in the qualification and evaluation of further education. The IOC forms an opinion on management appointments only above its members.

The legislation enters into force on the day following its promulgation.

Cover image: Getty Images.

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