Miklós Szócska

Miklós Szócska
Minister of State for Health
In office 2 June 2010 – 6 June 2014
Minister	Miklós Réthelyi Zoltán Balog
Preceded by	Tamás Székely (Minister of Health)
Succeeded by	Gábor Zombor
Personal details
Born	1960 Budapest, Hungary
Children	3
Alma mater	Semmelweis University Harvard University
Profession	physician

Dr. Miklós Szócska (born 1960, Budapest) is a Hungarian medical doctor, academic and politician, former Minister of State for Health of Hungary, the Director of The Health Services Management Training Centre of the Semmelweis University and a nominated candidate by the Hungarian Government for the upcoming General-Director position of the WHO.^[1][2][3]

Early life and Education

Dr. Szócska has strong and exceptional family heritage in public health. Both of his parents were paediatricians belonging to the medical generation fighting back tuberculosis (Morbus Hungaricus) in Hungary. Dr. Miklós Szócska graduated at the Semmelweis University (SU) of Medicine in 1989. He holds a Master of Public Administration degree from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University (1998), and a Ph.D. from the Semmelweis University in the field of change management (2003).

Career

Founding the Health Services Management Training Centre

His interest in the management of health services and organisations emerged in the late ‘80s-when he served as a student president elected from the opposition- before the Hungarian regime change. After his graduation at the Semmelweis University he and his colleagues initiated the creation of the Health Services Management Training Centre (HSMTC) those days a unique Institute, supported by the World Bank. Between 1992-1993 was member of the Supervisory Board - National Health Insurance Fund Administration elected by the Hungarian National Assembly. The Board was responsible for overseeing NHIFA, the single payer of the Hungarian health insurance system. The Training Centre was officially established in 1995, between 1995 and 2000 he served as the deputy director and in 2000 he was appointed to be the director of the Centre. HSMTC was the regional partner institute of the World Bank Institute for the Flagship program (with app. 1200 participants from 41 countries) focusing on health reforms, financing, AIDS and tuberculosis in Europe, Central Asia, Asia and Africa. These interactive training programs aimed at skill development for international participants to define their problems, plan relevant interventions and develop local ownership towards solutions.

New directions on the field of public health

Between 2010-2014 Dr. Szócska served a full electoral term as the Minister of State for Health of the Hungarian Government. Further to managing sustainability of health services in the challenging times of the world economic crisis, an evidence-based reform portfolio supported by a participatory, consultative change framework was implemented. He initiated and contributed to the introduction and implementation of a demanding set of public health regulations including full ban on smoking in all closed public places, the decrease of trans-fatty acids content of foodstuffs, introduction of HPV vaccination for adolescent girls, and the introduction of public health product tax (PHPT) on food and beverages with added salt and sugar content. PHPT proved to be an innovative tool to influence consumer and industry behaviour simultaneously, and generated invaluable resources during the deepest times of economic crisis. People consumed less added sugar and salt and companies improved their food production formulas. Revenues from PHPT were used to increase the salaries of nurses and doctors to slow down health workers’ emigration. In 2013 WHO awarded the government for the anti-smoking actions and Hungary jumped to the 11th place from the 27th on the Tobacco Scale Control Index.

Interventions in the health system

He laid down the foundations of a new national health service by enhancing coordinated mechanisms among hospitals, re-engineering and integrating patient pathways, introducing regionally centralized capacity planning and tailoring capacities to current needs. Additionally, during his time as Minister of State for Health, a pilot for strengthening primary care in disadvantaged regions, targeting the Roma minority, children, the elderly and marginalised people was initiated. Robust European structural fund investment supported the modernization of service infrastructures and the core foundations of a national electronic health system. The pharmaceutical policy of innovative payment schemes, taxing, competitive bidding radically decreased pharma expenditure of health insurance and citizens, making therapies more accessible in times of economic crisis.^[4][5]

Hungarian EU presidency

In 2011, with his participation the Hungarian EU presidency was successfully managed, contributing to the EU Council conclusions “Towards modern, responsive and sustainable health systems”, later chairing a workgroup of the EU refection process on investment in health systems, developing a toolkit for the smart use of European structural funds. He also served as a member of the EU eHealth Task Force laying the foundations of current European eHealth policies.^[6] During his mandate he had close collaboration with WHO, such as on health system performance evaluation, TB screening reform and mental health. The EU presidency agenda was implemented in close collaboration with WHO and this corporation on health human resources strategy triggered the participation in the relevant EU joint action.^[7]

Old-new director of HSMTC

Since 2014 he serves again as the Director of the HSMTC – his main areas of research and teaching interest covers various areas. He is a popular and recognized lecturer and academic professor in the field of change management and communication. He is also keen on innovation especially enhancing the adaptation as well as the introduction BIGDATA and network analysis solutions to support health policy decision making and the modernization of health care. Dr. Szócska became responsible for the strategic developments of the Institute of Digital Health Sciences at Semmelweis University.

Under his leadership, Health Services Management Training Centre has achieved international recognition and is an active participant of various EU and international projects covering the areas of health policy, eHealth and Bigdata solutions,^[8][9][10] management and change management, patient safety and quality management, human resources for health. Since 2016 HSMTC operates as the WHO Collaborating Centre for Human Resources in Health.

In 2016 he was nominated for the Director-General position of the Wold Health Organisation by the Hungarian government.^[11][12]

Personal life

He is keen in doing sports (swimming, skiing) and extending his knowledge in the history of the 20th century. During the period of the social and economic transformation in the early 80ies he was one of the founder of a revolutionary punk band, composing lyrics of songs still being popular.

Dr. Szócska and his wife, who is also a medical doctor bring up three children.

References