Health system
EU nationals staying in Hungary on a temporary basis, arriving from the territory of an EEA member state, may present their European Health Insurance Card to request necessary medical care, essentially emergency services. Planned care is available for an EU patient at the patient's own expense.
The legislation lays down which medicines are prescription-only and which ones can be obtained over the counter. Healthcare providers with a contract with the NEAK issue prescriptions free of charge. In Hungary, prescription medication may be purchased only with prescriptions complying with Hungarian law or prescriptions duly issued in another EU country. Medication funded by social security is reviewed annually. A number of basic, non-prescription drugs can also be purchased outside of pharmacies (e.g. at petrol stations and shopping centres).
The Hungarian word for pharmacy is ‘Gyógyszertár’ or ‘Patika’. These are located all over the cities, usually close to the city centres, supermarkets and, in some cases, nearby universities as well. Opening hours may vary from pharmacy to pharmacy but usually, they are open till 7 pm or 8 pm on weekdays. Drug stores, like DM and Rossmann, carry a minimum amount of light medicines, for example, pain killers.