Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs

In Hungary the social and welfare systems are managed and supervised by the Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs, with the exception of unemployment benefits (unemployment benefit, pre-retirement unemployment support). The activities of the Minister of Health, Social and Family Affairs are focussed on the fulfilment of the health policy, social policy and family policy tasks of the Government. In this work the Minister manages, coordinates and organises the health and social care system, the scientific and research activities in the sector, health and pension policy tasks relating to social insurance (in cooperation with the Minister of Finance) and also manages the National Health Insurance Fund and the National Pension Insurance General Directorate, as well as performs all tasks related to them, established by law. The Minister sets out the public hygiene and public health tasks, and is in charge of the public health programme aiming at the prevention of diseases, and all other tasks relating to health promotion, he controls the National Public Health and Medical Officer's Service, the agencies of health care with national competence, national institutes, health services provided in higher education institutions, health improvement research activities, and the Office for Authorisation and Administrative Procedures of the Ministry. The Minister also operates the Social Policy Council, the National Health Council, the National Disability Council, and he exercises regulatory supervision over the Hungarian Medical Association and Hungarian Chamber of Pharmacists. In order to fulfil his social policy and family policy tasks, the Minister defines tasks related to social care, child protection, and ensuring equal opportunities for disabled individuals, develops the system of social institutional care and services and identifies development trends for them, and also elaborates a system of family benefits and child raising support.

National Public Health and Medical Officer?s Service

The National Public Health and Medical Officer's Service, operating as a public administration agency, performs mostly state tasks and implements a unified health administration system, with the following responsibilities: public health and epidemiology, regulatory licensing; sector neutral professional supervision; organisation, monitoring and control of prevention and health improvement (health protection, health education, health promotion). The NPHMOS has enforcement authority in the entire territory of the country concerning all natural and legal entities, as well as companies without legal entity (with the exception of armed forces and law enforcement agencies, but not the penal institutions, however,  it has the right to perform sanitary inspections in these institutions, too).

National Health Council

The National Health Council is an organisation responsible for maintaining the continuity of long-term health policy and enforcing the rights of users of health and social services. The Council is a body involved in the development of the Government's health policy and decision making relating to the policy, by making initiatives and proposals, reviewing documents and giving advice, and analysing and evaluating the process of implementation of decisions. It has a very important role in identifying health improvement priorities, in which a professional consensus must be achieved.

Medical Research Council

The Medical Research Council (by the Hungarian abbreviation: ETT) is a proposal making reviewing, consultation and decision preparation body of the Minister. Upon the initiative of the Minister or members of the Council it takes a position on health policy, medical, pharmaceutical, scientific and any other health issues; it coordinates research activities falling under the responsibility of the Government, more specifically the Ministry, and makes proposals for the priorities of Hungarian and international research, assisting the transposition of research results into Hungarian health care practice. The Council also makes proposals for the design, implementation, documentation and control of clinical trials and biomedical research on human beings ensuring that they satisfy international ethical and scientific quality requirements, and monitors the implementation of such activities; the Council issues an opinion on scientifically founded research activities, and reviews and assesses the establishment of new regional research ethical committees, coordinating and promoting their standard operation.

Professional associations ('Chambers of healthcare professionals')

The two professional groups of the health care system, physicians and dental surgeons (hereinafter: physicians), and pharmacists, have had their professional self-government based on mandatory membership since 1994. The responsibilities of the Hungarian Chamber of Physicians and Hungarian Chamber of Pharmacists include individual management of professional matters through directly elected bodies and officials, within the framework defined by legislation, definition and representation of professional ethical, economic and social interests, and contribution of the formulation of health policy, and improvement of the provision of health and pharmaceutical care of the population in accordance with their importance in society.

Chambers are public bodies with public responsibilities, for which they are eligible for state subsidy, established by the act on the budget. Membership in the chamber is mandatory. In Hungary only members of the chamber may be engaged in activities requiring a physician?s or pharmacist?s degree.
On 4 March 2004 the founding general assembly of delegates officially created the chamber of nurses and allied health personnel, which is the professional interest representation and self-government body of the nursing and allied health personnel. In Hungary only those individuals may be engaged in the pursuit of activities requiring special qualifications in nursing and allied health in preventive-curative services who are members of the Hungarian Chamber of Nurses and Allied Health Personnel.

Medical specialty colleges

The medical specialty colleges are the highest level of proposal making and reviewing bodies of the specific medical disciplines, operated by the Hungarian Medical Association and Chambers of Pharmacists, but their operating expenses are covered by the Ministry. The Minister is assisted by 37 medical and 3 pharmaceutical specialty colleges. Apart from the medical and pharmaceutical colleges two groups of nursing and allied health personnel, i.e.  nurses and health visitors, have their own specialty colleges.

The specialty colleges elaborate, regularly review and publish professional recommendations, guidelines and methodological letters in their special field, and form a position on the technical requirements and quality certification, while medical sections can also take a standpoint on minimum professional requirements of health service providers. The colleges have a very wide competence of expressing their opinion.