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Eye health care in Hungary
11st Department of Ophthalmology, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary. nj@szem1.sote.hu
Purpose:
To describe eye health-care services provided by in patient Departments of Ophthalmology in Hungary as of 1998.
Methods:
A standardised questionnaire was sent to all Hungarian in-patient ophthalmic departments. The response rate was 100%, and data from six university departments and 56 hospitals with ophthalmic units are summarised.
Results:
During the 12-month period, a total of 78,008 ophthalmic operations were performed, by 489 ophthalmologists. They worked in 62 in-patient ophthalmic units having a total of 1952 beds. The cataract rate was 3564 operations per million inhabitants; intraocular lens implantation was performed on 97% of the cases. There were 591 corneal transplants, 1698 operations for retinal detachment and 510 vitrectomies for diabetic eye complications.
Conclusions:
The level of ophthalmic care in Hungary, judged on the basis of key objective parameters including number of ophthalmic specialists, number of ophthalmic beds, and the rates of surgery, generally conforms to standards prevailing in Western Europe, in spite of financial difficulties and the consequent lack of investment in new equipment and instruments, both major and minor.