Ministry looks to doctors to take first step in eliminating 'tips'

The state secretary in charge of health care has called on doctors to seek a consensus within the medical profession in connection with patients tipping doctors. Ildiko Horvath reacted to a recent proposal by medical chamber MOK that both offering and accepting tips should be considered criminal offences. She said in an interview to public radio that doctors themselves should define "what criminalisation should involve". The chamber failed to specify "whether it would mean fining doctors and patients or jailing them," she added. Once doctors have "a clear stance based on broad a consensus", the ministry will be ready to negotiate, Horvath said. Concerning MOK's proposal to raise doctors' salaries, Horvath said the chamber should join talks under way on hiking wages across the sector.