The junior doctors’ association asked Public Prosecutor Péter Polt in late April for his position on whether doctors accepting gratuity after treatment even if they do not ask for it constitutes bribery.

Head of the association Tamás Dénes said the issue needed to be cleared up because under the new penal code doctors could be held accountable for accepting gratuity without asking for it.

The justice ministry and the ministry of human resources said gratuity not requested but accepted by a doctor or a nurse would not qualify as bribery.

However, the ministries added that their position does not have legal force. Polt said in a radio interview that his office would deal with the issue raised by the association. The practice of patients handing envelopes of cash to doctors and nurses is a long-standing one and partly reflects the traditionally low pay in state health care.

The Fidesz government has tried to tackle the issue by raising the wages of many health-care workers.

Source www.hungarymatters.hu

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