The head of the Bulgarian Doctors' Union Andrey Kehayov (L) announced that more protests are looming. Photo by Nadya Kotseva (Sofia Photo Agency)
The Bulgarian Doctors' Union are ready to launch nation-wide protests, if the state doesn't comply with their demands for higher pay and some law changes.
Union leaders are really upset over the fact that the government passed at first reading a law that states doctors don't need to be members of the union in order to practice their profession. If this law remains the union will turn to the Standing Committee of European Doctors for a statement on the matter.
Since the no-confidence vote against the government didn't pass, the government settled down and decided that there's no reason to hear us, nurse Stanka Markova said. They have promised us a 9-20% raise, which is no more than BGN 30-40, she added. That way a nurse would take BGN 220 instead of BGN 180, so why should she stay in Bulgaria when she can get about EUR 2,000 in any EU country, the woman asked.
Doctors and nurses alike warned that Bulgaria is facing a major personnel crisis and soon would have to import medics.