History and development of pediatric otorhinolaryngology in Hungary

The first pediatric otorhinolaryngological department was set up in Hungary at the Heim Pál Children's Hospital, Budapest in 1948. The first head of the department and the founder of Hungarian pediatric otorhinolaryngology was Ferenc Kallay. He was followed in leadership by Jenő Hirschberg, and at present Gábor Katona. In Budapest 10 pediatric otolaryngological departments and in other parts of the country seven departments have been working until recently with overall 344 beds. The Pediatric Otorhinolaryngological Section was developed in 1977. The discipline is independent specialty since 1978. Conferences with various special topics have been organized every year since then. Two international congresses were held in Hungary: the first one in Eger, 1986 presided by Jenő Hirschberg and Zoltán Lábas; and the second in Budapest in 2008, organized by Gábor Katona. The Hungarian pediatric otorhinolaryngologists assumed initiative role in the development of this special discipline six decades ago, early joined in the international life and have had important positions in several international associations (IFOS, ESPO, UEP, IALP, IAP) as president, board member or chairman of committees. Besides the organizational work, they have taken part in the scientific and research work as well: in the present paper the authors detail the results achieved by them in several topics of pediatric otorhinolaryngology.