site.btaOne in Three Nurses Is Over 65, Bulgaria Needs 30,000 More Nurses

 “In Bulgaria, one in three practicing nurse is over 65 years of age, and in order for the health system to work smoothly and have someone to take care of the patients, we need over 50,000 nurses,” Milka Vassileva, President of the Bulgarian Association of Health Care Professionals, said in an interview to BTA. 

May 12 is International Nurses Day. The theme for 2024 is “Our Nurses, Our Future: the economic power of care, which creates healthy people and societies”. According to the association, 21,860 nurses work in Bulgaria. Reform and "rearrangement" of the health system are needed, as well as the development of work standards, which to be respected. Otherwise, the health system will collapse, Vassileva said. Every year, 800-1,000 nurses leave the profession, some of them go abroad, and those remaining in Bulgaria leave the health system. 

The decision is very difficult because the system is extremely conservative and in order to have any effect, we need to start with many revolutionary steps, one of which is to ensure decent wages, Vassileva said. In most hospitals, the basic salary for a nurse – BGN 1,500 is not provided, although laid out in the collective labor agreement, which in turn is extremely insufficient for the maintenance and continuing professional development of a nurse. In addition to increasing wages, it is necessary to have respect for the profession and the people who exercise it, as well as good relations within the medical teams. In her words, it is necessary to provide an opportunity for career growth and realization, to create standards of health care.

The beginning should be made by developing a long-term strategy that spells out what will happen in five, ten, twenty years, because according to the World Health Organization, a shortage of nine million nurses is expected by 2030. Bulgaria is one of the countries where there are the least number of nurses per capita and if the future government does not reach a political agreement and does not prepare the strategy, there will be no one to celebrate May 12 next year, Vassileva said.