Debrecen Clinical Centre Careers, Salaries & Jobs

The University of Debrecen Clinical Centre (DE KK) is the clinical arm of the University of Debrecen in eastern Hungary.

Its roots go back to Act XXXVI of 1912, which provided for a university and a public hospital suitable for teaching, and the Faculty of Medicine opened on 4 November 1921.

The centre grew through two integrations. On 1 January 2021 the Kenézy Gyula hospital became the Kenézy Gyula Campus alongside the Nagyerdei Campus, and on 1 July 2023 the Count Tisza István Hospital in Berettyóújfalu joined. The university says the centre now runs nearly 3,500 beds with more than 7,200 employees and treats over four million patients a year.

The Nagyerdei Campus alone lists 24 clinics, from cardiology and heart surgery to oncology, paediatrics and emergency medicine, plus an Assisted Reproduction Centre and a Specialist Centre for Rare Diseases. Its Department of Surgery runs a Robotic Surgery Center and a Transplant Surgery Department.

For an internationally trained doctor, nurse or other health professional, the centre is a large public employer in a region outside Budapest, but it hires on Hungarian terms. Adverts are in Hungarian, posts are under Act C of 2020 on the health service employment relationship, and you need recognition, OKFŐ registration and working Hungarian before you can practise independently.

Run by

University of Debrecen

Leadership

• Szabó Zoltán, President (elnök)
• Ujhelyi Bernadett, Vice-President for Medical Affairs (orvosszakmai alelnök)
• Szőllősi Anna, Director of Nursing (ápolási igazgató)

Switchboard

+36 52 52 52 52

• General and transplant surgery

  The Department of Surgery has 202 beds, 13 operating rooms and 12 specialised outpatient clinics across two campuses, performs more than 9,000 operations a year and houses Level III Oncological Surgery, Vascular Surgery, Thoracic Surgery and Transplant Surgery departments.

• Robotic surgery

  A da Vinci robotic system was inaugurated on 15 May 2024 after the first robot-assisted gall bladder removal in April. The university says it serves general surgery, urology, gynaecology and otolaryngology.

• Cardiology and heart surgery

  The Cardiology and Heart Surgery Clinic on the Nagyerdei Campus covers both medical and surgical cardiac care.

• Oncology and oncoradiology

  Separate Oncology and Oncoradiology clinics on the Nagyerdei Campus, supported by oncological surgery in the Department of Surgery.

• Assisted Reproduction Centre

  A dedicated centre for assisted reproduction, listed among the Clinical Centre's other organisations alongside the Gynaecology and Obstetrics Clinic.

• Specialist Centre for Rare Diseases

  A specialist centre on the Nagyerdei Campus for the diagnosis and care of rare diseases.

• Emergency medicine

  The Emergency Clinic provides the centre's emergency care for the region.

• The University of Debrecen Clinical Centre does not publish an international recruitment programme for doctors or nurses. Its job listings are in Hungarian, and the adverts we read in October 2026 did not mention relocation, visa sponsorship or support for overseas applicants.
• A graduate nurse advert for the Surgery Clinic in October 2026 listed English or German as an advantage, which suggests foreign-language skills are valued alongside Hungarian, not instead of it.
• Applications go to the named contact in each advert by email or post, not through a national scheme or an agency named by the centre. International applicants usually reach the centre by answering an advert once their qualification is recognised, or after completing a supervised adaptation period ordered in their recognition decision.
• The University of Debrecen teaches medicine in English to international students, but that does not create a route into clinical employment. Graduates still need Hungarian for patient care.

• Recognition of your qualification. For non-EU qualifications, the Educational Authority (Oktatási Hivatal) recognises medical, dental, pharmacy and other degree-level health qualifications, and the OKFŐ handles non-EU secondary-level qualifications and specialist qualifications after the basic degree is recognised. All EU qualifications go to the OKFŐ.

• Possible conditions. The recognition decision can require exams, practice or up to one year of supervised work at an accredited provider. Supervised work must be reported to the OKFŐ within 15 days of starting.

• Registration. After recognition, apply for the OKFŐ practising register, which runs in five-year cycles. Nurses must join MESZK first; doctors and dentists do not need MOK membership to register. Adverts we read asked for a clean criminal record and no professional restrictions.

• Hungarian. No single CEFR level is published for foreign-trained staff, but the Health Act gives patients the right to a doctor who can communicate with them in Hungarian and allows the OKFŐ to refuse registration where required language knowledge is not proved.

• Residence status. Act C of 2001 lets a non-EU national apply for recognition for work only with a residence permit for work or family reunification, with a limited exception where an employer has applied for certain permits. The EU Blue Card salary floor for listed health occupations in 2026 is 800,838 Ft gross a month.

• Guest-worker permits closed. The OIF says no new guest-worker residence permits can be requested from 6 June 2026.

1. 1

   Confirm the recognising authority

   Use the OKFŐ allocation table to see whether the Oktatási Hivatal or the OKFŐ recognises your qualification, and prepare certified copies with certified Hungarian translations.
2. 2

   Plan your residence permit

   Check how the residence-permit condition for recognition applies to you, and which permit you will use; for degree-level roles this is usually the EU Blue Card.
3. 3

   Get recognised and registered

   Meet any conditions set in the recognition decision, then apply for the OKFŐ practising register. Nurses join MESZK first.
4. 4

   Find a vacancy

   The Clinical Centre lists its vacancies at unideb.hu/hu/klinikai_kozpont_allasok. Each advert names the clinic, the legal basis of employment, the requirements and the deadline.
5. 5

   Send the documents the advert asks for

   Adverts ask for a CV, copies of diplomas, a certificate of good conduct and a signed data processing consent, sent by email or post to the contact named in the advert before the deadline.
6. 6

   Interview and start

   Posts we read were full-time, open-ended health service employment relationships under Act C of 2020, some with on-call duty. Have your registration and permit in place before you start.

Monthly amounts

• Doctor, 0 to 2 years of practice

  687,837 Ft

  Annex 1, Act C of 2020.

• Doctor, 6 to 10 years

  1,231,212 Ft

  Annex 1.

• Doctor, 16 to 20 years

  1,491,679 Ft

  Annex 1.

• Doctor, 41 years and over

  2,380,057 Ft

  Top of annex 1.

• Health professionals, pay class I: 304,000 to 469,000 Ft (basic); 377,000 to 529,000 Ft (higher)Annex 1/A. Pay class depends on qualification and job.
• Health professionals, pay class III: 410,000 to 684,000 Ft (basic); 498,000 to 770,000 Ft (higher)Annex 1/A.
• Health professionals, pay class V: 530,000 to 1,142,000 Ft (basic); 635,000 to 1,400,000 Ft (higher)Annex 1/A, highest class.