Yesterday, the National Assembly rejected all three bills for amendments to the Law on Medical Institutions, which aimed to increase the salaries of young doctors and healthcare specialists. The ruling coalition GERB-SDF, BSP and ITN voted against their own proposals, along with the proposals of "Vazrazhdane" and PP-DB. The debates lasted over three hours without reaching a consensus.
Prof. Kostadin Angelov from GERB-SDF promised that the demands of young doctors will be satisfied through the upcoming Law on the Budget of the National Health Insurance Fund for 2026, which must be submitted by October 31. According to him, the budget laws will introduce the levels of remuneration by categories of personnel - doctor without a specialty, nurse, master's degree in pharmacy and others.
The proposals of "Vazrazhdane" and PP-DB for remuneration in the amount of 150 percent of the average salary for the country were rejected by a large majority. The text of "Vazrazhdane" received 79 votes "for", 103 "against" and 17 "abstains". The PP-DB proposal was rejected with 78 votes "for", 105 "against" and 15 "abstains".
The parliamentary groups of GERB-SDF, DPS - New Beginning, BSP - United Left and There Is Such a People voted against or abstained. Support for the demands of the young doctors was provided by PP-DB, "Vazrazhdane", "Alliance for Rights and Freedoms", "Moral, Unity, Honor" and "Majesty".
Dr. Daniel Kiprov, a specialist in general medicine, expressed strong dissatisfaction with the parliament's decision. "There is nothing to satisfy us. Absolutely nothing is being accepted and no constructive dialogue is being conducted, only projects are being rejected, in fact. Yesterday was more of a circus again with political attacks from both sides. In reality, nothing constructive happened. Only empty promises again," he told BNT.
According to Dr. Kiprov, the government has been negotiating with the young doctors for half a year and leading protests, but there is no result. "They are talking about the health insurance budget, they don't know what the state budget will be, nor do they know what the health insurance budget will be, and besides, their bills are extremely inflated," he commented.
The young doctor emphasized that with the rejection of the bills, important elements of their demands are being dropped. "The night work at the moment, what is owed is literally pennies. Literally pennies per hour, for extremely exhausting work, in total exhaustion, which is at night, especially with intensive care patients. All of this is being dropped. Absolutely all the additional things that we had set for stimulation, for additional qualification, so that young doctors can increase their qualifications accordingly, to treat their patients better. Absolutely all of this is being dropped, because it was in the Law on Medical Institutions, there is no way such things can be present in the Budget Law," explained Dr. Kiprov.
"Young doctors were lied to. The cabinet has again postponed solving the problem," said the co-chairman of the People's Party Asen Vassilev, commenting on the parliament's decision.
Alexander Todorov from "Moral, Unity, Honor" commented that the government has been "kicking the ball" for four months and the young doctors are disillusioned. "Promises, a commission, a working group and words, and during this time the young people are leaving the country," he pointed out.
Maria Ilieva from "Velichy" commented that there should be regulation for state and municipal hospitals, and it does not have to be the same, but that municipalities should be given the right to manage their medical facilities. According to her, there should be a program to support hospitals in remote areas.
The protesting doctors have several main demands - a minimum starting basic salary of 150 percent of the average salary in the country for all medical institutions that have a contract with the NHIF, and additional remuneration for night work - no less than 0.5 percent of the minimum hourly wage.
The young doctors have been protesting for months, demanding decent pay and better working conditions. Despite the years dedicated to their medical education, many of them show pay slips that make it difficult to survive in big cities.