Medical chamber elects opposition-leaning leadership

A pro-government site writes about a left-liberal takeover of the Chamber of Doctors, while a left-wing columnist welcomes the result of the election as a victory for the promoters of renewal in the national health service.

Analysing the results of the elections within the Hungarian Chamber of Doctors, Pesti Srácok’s Szilveszter Szarvas finds that “Gyurcsány has set foot in the Chamber”. For the first time in 16 years, the organisation representing over 40 thousand physicians has elected a left-liberal Chairman, Gyula Kincses, a state secretary under Ferenc Gyurcsány’s left-liberal government fifteen years ago. “Left wingers have thus occupied the Chamber of Dorctors”, Szarvas writes.

In Népszava, Anna Danó believes that the result was the fruit of an intergenerational alliance between young physicians whose ‘Re-planning’ group has been urging radical reforms in the health service, and experienced professionals like Dr Kincses. In addition, just as with the election of left-liberal mayors in several cities in October, now Dr Kincses’s victory may also signal a potential change, Danó suggests.

Tags: Gyurcsány, health care