The criminalization of informal patient payments in the Hungarian healthcare sector

Abstract

Informal patient payments represent a semi-legal phenomenon in many countries with a low GDP. This institution does not only exist in post-state-socialist states. In Hungary, from 1 January 2021, informal patient payments have constituted a crime of corruption. The only opportunity for patients to express their gratitude to healthcare workers materially is in the form of a gift of small value provided after care. Hungarian doctors’ salaries have been greatly increased, though nurses have not been remunerated in similar measure. Corrupt payments in the Hungarian healthcare sector are prosecuted. Covert agents thus create situations in which doctors and nurses might be trapped. The Hungarian efforts are top-down measures. Positive general prevention should ultimately be stressed. Certainly, taxing legal gift-giving would promote transparency in the Hungarian healthcare system.