Bulgaria’s Future Medics Demand Reform: National Protest Sweeps Across Cities

Medical students, young doctors, and healthcare professionals across Bulgaria took to the streets again on Monday in a coordinated national protest demanding long-overdue reform in the country’s healthcare system. Demonstrations were held simultaneously in multiple cities, including Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Stara Zagora, and Pleven.

In the capital, protesters first gathered outside the Ministry of Health before marching toward the National Assembly. Among the demonstrators were not only students and residents but also nurses, midwives, laboratory technicians, and other medical specialists, united in their call for adequate pay and humane working conditions. One of the signs held aloft read: “We want to treat without having to starve.”

The protestors are pushing for the implementation of functioning regulatory mechanisms that would ensure a fair distribution of hospital funds, particularly so that money actually reaches frontline staff. They are also calling for clear and enforceable rules around the regulation and compensation of mandatory overtime hours, which they say are being routinely underreported.

Vasilena Dimitrova, one of the student representatives, has signed a formal proposal aimed at resolving longstanding issues in the healthcare sector. The document has been submitted to the Prime Minister, relevant ministers, and all parliamentary groups. Among the concerns raised are discrepancies in how overtime work is documented and the flawed system of competitive exams required to acquire a medical specialty.

In Sofia, the medical protesters also expressed solidarity by joining another group of demonstrators - employees from the National Center for Transfusion Hematology - who were protesting in front of the Ministry of Health.

Key demands include a legally guaranteed minimum wage in all medical institutions, better access to professional development and specializations, and structured pay scales. Specifically, they are asking for the starting salary for a young doctor in training to be at least three times the national minimum wage. For nurses and other medical professionals, they want a baseline salary of no less than 150% of the country’s average wage. The protestors are also calling for an enforcement mechanism to guarantee that these standards are upheld across all hospitals.

At around 7 p.m., demonstrators in Sofia began marching toward the parliament building, briefly blocking traffic at Independence Square. The protest wrapped up by 8 p.m., and traffic was restored shortly after.

Despite the end of the day’s demonstrations, the message was clear: the young generation of Bulgarian healthcare workers has no intention of backing down until authorities commit to concrete actions.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health has expressed support for the protests by medical workers, while clarifying that it does not have direct control over the mechanisms used to set base salaries for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.

In an official statement, the ministry emphasized that the longstanding issues and imbalances within the healthcare system demand a thorough and lasting approach in order to ensure long-term financial stability.

The Minister of Health reaffirmed the position that all healthcare workers deserve fair and decent pay. The ministry also noted that upcoming discussions on next year’s budget will be conducted with this principle in mind.