The round table organized by young doctors and other healthcare specialists has just ended. A bill was presented by the young doctors. We said that we support it. There are some small things that need to be cleared up. We will insist that it be adopted as soon as possible, if possible before the parliament goes on vacation in August, so that these people can receive decent pay. This was stated by the former Finance Minister and current Chairman of “We continue the change” (PP) Assen Vassilev to journalists in the National Assembly.
Regarding the questions of whether there are funds – there are. A question of priorities in the system. With other values that were set in a parliamentary decision that were slightly lower, the calculation of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Health was that to reach the payment of 125%, it was in the order of 60 million with a 9.3 billion budget of the health fund, he specified.
The mechanism is also there. There are separate funds in the NHIF budget for regional hospitals and municipal hospitals to support the funds for personnel, where they are not enough on clinical paths, so it is not a question of technology, it is not a question of money, but a question of political will. From the PP's point of view, the political will is there and we fully support these young people, stressed Vassilev.
We introduced the method with the Collective Labor Agreement (CLA) in 2022, unfortunately, it was criticized by hospital directors, once challenged in the Supreme Administrative Court and fell, then they said they would not implement it, the fines did not enter into force and currently there is no CLA in force. What is proposed to be in the Law on Medical Institutions provides a more sustainable mechanism that does not depend on the CLA. I do not see a problem with it being done either way, but if it is going to be done with the CLA, there must be automatic indexation, so that if there is no current CLA signed, it is guaranteed that these people will receive normal salaries, explained Asen Vassilev.
We support this proposal, as it has been made, to be in the law. If there is no parliamentary majority from other parties for this proposal, there are options for how to write into the law that even in the absence of a current CTA, the values from the previous CTA are taken, indexed with an increase in the average salary, and thus normal pay for young doctors is still achieved and the final effect is achieved, the former finance minister also said.