Varga Benedek szerk.: Orvostörténeti közlemények 149-157. (Budapest, 1996)

TANULMÁNYOK / ARTICLES - Kapronczay Katalin: Az orvosok érdekvédelmi törekvései a 19. századi Magyarországon a korabeli sajtó tükrében

stmcted academic and intellectual activities. Those leading figures of the medical community who took part in the revolution or paid their sympathies for it were either imprisoned or pushed into the background. The sole remaining organisation that could carry on its activities was the Royal Society of Budapest Physicians which had kept away from social welfare initiatives, and had devoted itself entirely to academic issues. During the late 1850s, when political climate slowly began to improve, two new and competing medical periodicals appeared: the Orvosi Hetilap (Medical Weekly since 1857) and the Gyógyászat (Healing since 1861). Both stood also for the interests of medical profession. After the Austrian Hungarian Settlement Act (1867), which was a turn over both in Hungarian politics, and for the whole Empire, the protection of the interests of the medical profèsion speeded up. Many former and new medical societies appeared to watch over these issues. During the 1870s and 1880s the rapid industrialisation and urbanisation changed the structure of Hungarian society and consequently public health and social hygiene was regulated. The 1874: XIV. Act of Parliament increased the number of government employed physicians (paid by local authorities), and proclaimed many health issues as being nationally concerned. Doctors were, however, dissatisfied with the new regulations. Their fees were strictly regulated by the government, and they regarded the sums as being unsuitably low, and the transfer too slow and random. Professional protection now overlapped the increase of the fees, the reduction of age of doctors for pension, and the most important among all, the struggles with the sick-relief funds. To overcome the difficulties many physicians joined the initiative by the Budapest Physisicians Circle (which was an organisation supported by the Gyógyászat) to set up professional chambers. The idea appeared in 1888, but met with strong opposition. The proposal suggested that only those physicians should be allowed to practice in Hungary who were members of the chamber, including even military doctors, and which was equally important that all ethical matters should have been judged by the Chamber. Both the Royal Society of Budapest Physicians and the National Public Health Council (an advisory board of the Ministry of Interior) opposed the proposal. In the Millenial Medical and Public Hygiene Congress of 1896 the Budapest Physicians Circle requested a voting which brought a refusal about. What they were able to achieve instead was a national federation, based on voluntary membership, which stood for ethical issues and social interest. More than 90% of the Hungarian physicians joined this new organisation, the National Medical Federation, and the erection of a medical chamber was left for the first decade of the 20th century.