On their professional holiday, nurses from all over the country protested in front of the Ministry of Health building and blocked Sofia's "Maria Luiza" Blvd.
According to them, there is no sufficiently adequate national policy to retain staff in the system. They warn that if salaries are not increased and the working conditions of all workers are not changed, wards and even entire hospitals will be closed again.
"Our request to make up for this staff shortage is a 150% increase in salaries from the average salary for the country in the public sector. Or in sum, this is about 3077 leva as a basis for the profession", commented Maya Ilieva, chairwoman of the SBMS management board.
"In our department, we are three pensioners and one 50-year-old nurse, and I work in a surgical department" said Petya Varbanova, a nurse.
The Minister of Health Silvi Kirilov stated in Ruse that the profession "nurse" will be protected. The Ministry of Education is expected to submit these changes to the National Assembly.
"There are imbalances that we are working on and where we have the opportunity and resources to decide, we have proposed changes in Budget 2026 in some sectors of healthcare. Positive changes have occurred in psychiatry, but they have led to an imbalance that we want to level out" said Kirilov.