Doctor, Doctor

If you say "Ahhhh" don't believe it, you are among the many who don't. People think I am telling stories when I tell them how much a medical doctor earns in Hungary. Those who are working the clinics, accepting our health insurance card as payment are earning poverty wages. Yes, you may argue that this is for a resident, but I can assure you that the others are not making much more. We have lost multiple doctors ourselves after they found positions in the UK and Finland. The next two paragraphs are quoted from All Hungary News today's edition.



May 09, 2011, 5:01 CET
Doctors reportedly considering mass resignation over wages
By MTI
Young doctors in Hungary are deeply dissatisfied with their wages and are considering to resign en masse, the head of the Resident Doctors' Association, Magor Papp told Friday's Magyar Nemzet daily. Papp said doctors were on their last rope and were very determined to pressure the government to raise wages. He said many would find it hard to believe that a resident doctor's take-home pay is currently 79,000 forints (299 euros) a month. He added that the doctors' association has turned to Prime Minister Viktor Orban, asking him to put more money into the health care sector.


Doctors from outside Budapest have told the paper on condition of anonymity that many of them are planning to write their notices and place them on hold, soliciting a response from the government. If by December 31 of this year the government failed to address their problems, the en-masse resignations become activated, the paper said. The doctors demands are a minimum net wage of 200,000 forints a month for career-starters and 300,000 forints a month for doctors with specialist exams, it added.

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Budapest wages on par with... Bucharest

By Adrian Courage

For once, you can be forgiven for mixing up the Hungarian and Romanian capitals as a report by global financial firm UBS reveals that Budapest wages are on the same level as those in much maligned city of Bucharest. Worse still, only workers in Sofia, Bulgaria earn less money, writes index.hu. Budapest wages are just 16% of those in New York, while living expenses are 42% of those in the American city. Wages in Prague, Bratislava and Warsaw are considerably higher than those in Budapest at between 20% to 30% of those in New York, the city used as a basis for the comparison. Meanwhile, living expenses including rents are much closer to the average in Budapest, clocking in at 41.8% of those in New York, roughly matching other countries in the region. Of course, what the report doesn't mention is the wages used in the comparison may not reflect what wheeler-dealing Budapesters actually earn.

News reprinted from All Hungary Newsletter August 27, 2009

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