The Hungarian Medical Chamber has found itself contradicting itself. While Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office, was refuted in a statement, who called it unacceptable that the chamber openly threatens doctors who would perform their duties in the new on-call system, Index obtained a letter from one of the organization's presidents, in which he mentions pressure and classifies colleagues who think otherwise as strike breakers . .
At the beginning of February, the general meeting of delegates of the Hungarian Medical Chamber (MOK) unanimously voted that, in order to achieve long-term goals, family doctors should not sign the new on-call contract. General practitioners were asked to deposit the termination of their service contracts, while hospital doctors were asked to do the same by terminating their voluntary overtime. Their decision was justified by the fact that the situation in the Hungarian healthcare system had become untenable, the portal wrote.
The chamber brought one of the county's general practitioner professional managers under ethical procedure, who gave information about the new on-call structure to his colleagues. The ethical procedure shocked a significant part of the profession, as the MOK clearly declared that it agreed with the need to transform the on-call care system and also approved the care organization aspects according to which the new on-call structure was first set up in the county of Hajdú-Bihar, and then within a few days in Győr -Moson-Sopron and Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg counties will also start operating.
The highly publicized case was also asked about on Saturday's Government Info. Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister's Office, responded that the MOK's procedure is unprincipled, intolerable and unacceptable, which also endangers care when it openly threatens the doctors who would perform their duties. If they want to politicize in the chamber, then they should join the party they like - expressed the minister's opinion, stating that the government has always regarded the chamber as a partner.
The Hungarian Medical Chamber responded to the words of Gergely Gulyás on Saturday evening. In their announcement, they wrote that all colleagues voluntarily participate in the pressure action of Hungarian doctors, and contrary to what was said in the Government Info, the Hungarian Medical Chamber has not initiated and will not initiate ethical proceedings against any general practitioner for signing the on-call contract. As it was written, the presidency of the Hungarian Medical Chamber filed an ethical complaint against the county's collegiate leading general practitioner, who tried to persuade fellow general practitioners to sign contracts with threats, serious value judgments, and misleading information.
However, according to a letter obtained by the Index, doctors who do not think according to the taste of the Chamber were indeed threatened by the management of the MOK. The letter was written by László Szijjártó, the president of the Győr-Moson-Sopron county of the Hungarian Medical Chamber, and it says that, in his opinion, those who are in favor of the new on-call structure are "strikebreakers" and "sell their future for a bowl of lentils".
The entire Origo article can be read here.
Image: MOK.hu
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