Fidesz-KDNP majority adopts bill on medical chambers – one day after it was submitted

On Tuesday afternoon, in an emergency procedure, the Fidesz majority in Parliament adopted the motion submitted on Monday, which significantly reduces the influence of the Hungarian Chamber of Doctors (MOK), mainly by abolishing the mandatory membership in the Chamber among medical professionals.

It was precisely because of its compulsory membership that the MOK was one of Hungary's strongest professional representative organisations. All doctors were members, it had local and county representative bodies, and the national assembly of delegates regularly discussed and decided on issues affecting the entire Hungarian medical community.

Using this influence, the chamber has been able to force the government to make concessions on several occasions in recent years. It has also brought decision-makers to the negotiating table on issues they were reluctant to discuss. And if there is one thing we have learned about this government over the last 13 years, it is that they don't like anyone other than themselves to have any substantial influence on a decision.

The newly adopted amendment is a response to the Chamber's disapproval of the changes in the Hungarian healthcare system the government is planning on implementing, and which the MOK did not approve of in the first place, saying that it fails to address the long-standing problems and creates new problems or deepens existing ones instead.

The package about health care reform the Chamber objects to was adopted in December without the government taking into account any of the MOK proposals when drafting the amendment. At the time, 4,500 doctors declared to the MOK that they were willing to file their resignations.

To find out more about the doctors' objections and all that transpired between December and now, check our previous article on the subject.