|
Born on 5 April 1950 in Budapest. His father was a mechanical engineer, his mother a chemist. He graduated from the General Medical Faculty of the Semmelweis University in 1974, then became a specialist in internal medicine and cardiology. Between 1974 and 1979, he worked in the National Cardiological Institute as a practicing physician and researcher. Between 1979 and 1990, he worked in public administration in various positions. In the Ministry of Health, he was responsible for organising professional programmes; as head of department in the Office of the Council of Ministers, among his other tasks, he managed the development of the first health conservation strategy of Hungary. Between 1988 and 1990, he was deputy minister for social and health affairs in the Németh government. Following the change of regime, he returned to the National Cardiological Institute as deputy director general, then he became the medical manager of a foreign-owned private health enterprise. He has been member of the Hungarian Socialist Party since 1991; he served on the presidium of the party between 1992 and 1994. He was elected Member of Parliament in the Budapest district of Ferencváros in 1994, while in 1998 he gained a Parliamentary seat through the Budapest list of the Socialist Party. He served as the political undersecretary of the Ministry of Welfare from 1994, and as Minister for Welfare between 1996 and 1998. In the 1998-2002 period he was chairman of the Parliamentary committee for health and social affairs. In the elections of April 2002 he was re-elected into Parliament on a personal mandate (in Ferencváros). From 27 May 2002 until 15 September 2003, he was Political Undersecretary in the Ministry of Health, Social and Family Affairs.
He has been minister of Health, Social and Family Affairs since 16 September 2003. He is married; his wife is a chemical engineer.
|
