Hungary faces critical shortage of general practitioners

Hungary is facing a critical shortage of general practitioners, with over 1,000 medical districts remaining permanently vacant. This crisis affects approximately 1.4 million citizens who must rely solely on substitute doctors for primary care.

The shortage is driven by a rapidly aging medical workforce; more than half of practicing doctors are over 60 years old, while those under 40 represent less than 7 percent of the profession. The crisis is most acute in northern and eastern counties, such as Nógrád and Heves, where the rate of unserved districts reaches 30 percent.

To address these systemic issues, health officials are developing a comprehensive reform package scheduled for 2027. Proposed measures include increasing basic funding, raising on-call fees, and providing enhanced salary support for doctors in their first decade of practice. The reform also aims to shift from case-number-based reimbursement to a quality-based premium system that rewards improved patient outcomes and expands the competencies of general practitioners to reduce specialist waiting lists.