site.btaParliament to Hold Extraordinary Sitting to Vote Conclusively on Amendments Addressing Salaries of Doctors, Healthcare Professionals

National Assembly Chair Nataliya Kiselova has convened an extraordinary sitting of Parliament for 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, the parliamentary press office said. The only item on the agenda will be the second reading of amendments to the Medical-Treatment Facilities Act. The vote will concern a consolidated bill based on three bills adopted at first reading on July 25, 2025, submitted respectively by Tsoncho Ganev (Vazrazhdane) and a group of MPs, Assen Vassilev (Continue the Change–Democratic Bulgaria) and a group of MPs, and Kostadin Angelov (GERB–UDF), Ivan Ibrishimov (BSP–United Left), and Andrey Chorbanov (There Is Such a People), the press release said.

The extraordinary sitting was called at the initiative of opposition MPs. Continue the Change said that they had collected 57 signatures, exceeding the 48 required, to include in Tuesday’s sitting the draft bills concerning the pay of young doctors.

At a meeting of the Parliamentary Health Committee earlier in October, its Chair Kostadin Angelov (GERB–UDF) said that none of the proposed amendments in the Medical-Treatment Facilities Act would be supported at the second reading. He added that the coalition council had agreed to meet the demands of young doctors regarding pay levels and that budgetary resources had been identified to make this possible. “The option we have found is not contained in any of the three proposed bills,” Angelov said, adding that the pay levels would be set out in the 2026 National Health Insurance Fund Budget Bill.

Earlier in October, young medical professionals once again held protests, calling for a starting salary for doctors without specialization to be set at 150% of the national average wage, for higher pay for night shifts and continuing training, and for greater transparency in the allocation of medical specializations.