J. Antall szerk.: Medical history in Hungary 1972. Presented to the XXIII. International Congress of the History of Medicine / Orvostörténeti Közlemények – Supplementum 6. (Budapest, 1972)

L. Várađi: The Social Position of Physicians in Hungary at the Turn of the 19th and 20th Centuries

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2 Medical History in Hungary 1972 (Comm. Hist. Artis Med. Suppl. 6.) clerk", whose typical representatives became the doctors employed by different insurance companies as well as sick funds founded at the turn of the century.

13 The medical officers in the counties were appointed by election and their employment was considered as constant.

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4 The village or county keeping the physician secured his salary from its local budget and fixed its amount according to the financial situation of the county concerned. The decision was made on the basis of the suggestions made by the representatives of village councils taking into consideration the opinion of the sub-prefect. The rent and the traffic costs i.e. the proportions of refunding was fixed by the sub-prefect himself. From the point of view of discipline they were submitted to the same laws as the other civil servants of the community. The physician paid by the state was compelled to treat the poor patients of the villages within his service area free of charge. Furthermore, he had to take measures in several questions referring to public health. From his more opulent patients be was allowed to ask a fee, the amount of which had been previously fixed, by the county representatives. In his free time he could make private practice. The source of income of a medical officer derived from this private practice in his district. Those specialists who were engaged in private practice only, were endevoured to avoid the "public roads" of the villages and districts and preferred towns, spas, private clinics and hospitals to the incomfortable and poor life in the country. A medical officer qualified for practice within the country was at the same time entitled to exercise private practice and free to settle any where in the country. It was compulsory for him, however, to produce his doctor's degree to the competent administrative authority before beginning his practice, in order to be installed and annunciated. It suggests that even a private professor was under state control. In this view it becomes clear that in contrast to the free medical trade in Germany, in Hungary any kind of medicating activity could take place under strict rules. The question might be raised, whether these restrictions were adequate. The answer to this question could be given only on grounds of an exact analysis of the structure of contemporary society and institution of health administration. Even after the bourgeois transformation of the social order the countys in Hungary preserved their traditional feudal structures that prevailed for centuries.

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5 After the Compromise of 1867 the first administrative reorganisation 1

3 The efforts to create a system of sick-funds (National Health Insurance) played a positive role. In reality, however, due to bad organization and local interests they gave minimal medical aid to the patients. 1

4 1886: Act. XXII. On villages. § 70. For the appointment of panel doctors, their salary place of residence, the decisions of § 144. 1876: Act. XIV. are competent. Cf. Chyzer, K. : Az egészségügyre vonatkozó törvények és rendeletek gyűjteménye 1854—1894. (Corpus of laws and decisions referring to public health — 1854 — 1894). 1

5 Pach, Zs. P. — Hanák, P.: Magyarország története az abszolutizmus és dualizmus korában (1849 — 1918). (History of Hungary in the age of absolutism and dualism.) Budapest 1964. (University lecture notes)