Ideggyogy Szemle
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Lack of neurologists has become an obvious problem recently in Hungary, not only in small hospitals, but in major health care centers and also in university hospitals. With the current survey we set forth to estimate the number of board certified neurologists, and to evaluate the foreseeable changes in the next decade. In the beginning of 2010 there were 1310 physicians in Hungary with an official license to practice neurology. ⋯ The number of neurologists in the age range of 40-60 years will drop to 2/3 of the current number by 2020 even if emigration of neurologists will completely halt. If emigration will continue at the current rate and the number of those in neurological training will not increase considerably, then by 2020 only about 300 neurologists will have to cover neurological services throughout Hungary. As this number is insufficient for the task, and the tendency is clearly foreseeable, the health care government should urgently react to this situation to ensure an acceptable level of neurological services in the near future for the population of Hungary.