Fifty hospitals in towns and municipalities are facing bankruptcy, Bulgaria's Health Minister Tanya Andreeva has announced.

Her words came amid calls from the Bulgarian Medical Association that she step down.

In an interview for the private TV channel TV7, Andreeva laid out a few reasons for the situation, citing insufficient funding, as well as lack of clear rules for opening medical institutions and of criteria to measure quality of service.

The Minister added her team had prepared amendments to three laws that had been approved by the government and introduced into Parliament. In her words the changes were aimed at dealing with flaws in the healthcare system. Among the proposed measures are strict requirements for the opening of hospitals and providing high-quality services.

One of the proposals is that all medical institutions, "regardless of whether they are public, municipal or private, to provide services to patients under all clinical pathways", Andreeva explained.

Disgruntlement is on the rise among Bulgaria's doctors and medical personnel. Also on Saturday, the Bulgarian Medical Association reminded its members would stage a protest on May 15, the Action Day of European Doctors, as they had previously announced.

Supported by nurses, obstetricians, pharmacists and trade unions, doctors will demonstrate against the financial situation and working conditions in Bulgarian healthcare and will thus join dissatisfied colleagues from across the continent.

The Medical Association also demanded that Minister Andreeva step down during their extraordinary meeting on Saturday, which was dedicated to next week's mass protests.