site.btaHealthcare Professionals without Doctor's Degree to Start Protest Actions over National Health Insurance Fund, State Budget Bills

Healthcare professionals will begin protest actions from December 10 in connection with the new 2026 State Budget Bill and the 2026 National Health Insurance Fund Budget Bill, the Bulgarian Association of Healthcare Professionals without Doctor’s Degrees (BAHP) announced on Tuesday.

“We want to work for our patients, and since no one wants to listen to us, and after all these situations in the country that are inexplicable to us, the only thing left is to protest,” said BAHP Board Chair Diana Georgieva. “This time we have also given patients the opportunity to understand why we are doing it – we are handing out a leaflet that explains the reasons for our protest,” she explained.

The reason for the announced protests is the unfulfilled promises of the authorities to healthcare professionals without doctor's degree regarding an increase in the minimum salaries for everyone in the sector, as well as the possibility of public funding for outpatient healthcare services, BAHP said earlier in the day in a media statement. The new draft budgets of the State and the National Health Insurance Fund for 2026 do not include funds to ensure a minimum starting salary of EUR 1,550 for healthcare specialists. Only a 10% income increase is foreseen for employees in the budget sphere - in this case, staff in nurseries, regional health inspectorates, psychiatric hospitals, emergency centres and transfusion haematology units, the press release states.

“Colleagues are extremely hurt and disappointed. Expectations were for a truly decent EU-level salary,” Georgieva commented. “I do not represent only nurses - we also have midwives, rehabilitation therapists, radiology technologists, clinical laboratory technicians, orthopaedic technicians, and visually impaired massage therapists,” she noted. “We are all the backbone of the healthcare system,” Georgieva said.

Asked whether they have discussed taking effective strike action, she said this depends on the actions of those in power and what changes will be made between the first and second reading of the budget.