Despite the crisis caused by sanctions related to the war in Ukraine, the government will fund further wage hikes for doctors, nurses and other health-care workers next year, a state secretary of the interior ministry told MTI on Wednesday evening. The wages of doctors will be raised by an additional 11% as of January 1 under an agreement concluded with the Hungarian Chamber of Doctors during the pandemic, Bence Rétvári said. With the increase, a doctor starting a career will earn 687,000 forints (EUR 1,705) per month, a doctor with 21-25 years of professional experience 1.5 million and a senior professional with some 40 years of experience 2.38 million forints, he said.
The wages of nurses will be hiked in two phases, in July next year and in March 2024, Rétvári said. The increase will follow a 21% pay rise in January this year. The goal is to ensure that the average wages of nurses reach 37% of a doctor’s average monthly wage by March 1 in 2024, in line with the average ratio in Europe, he said. Rétvári noted that the government had given the largest pay hikes in the health-care sector since taking power in 2010. Doctors earn five to nine times more and nurses three times more on average than before the change of government, he said.