site.btaAppropriations for Emergency Medical Service Centres' Staff Reserved for Adjustments, Union Leader Says

Following a meeting with caretaker Health Minister Galya Kondeva on Tuesday, Krasimir Mitov, Chairperson of the Zashtita [Protection] national trade union, told journalists that a solid reserve of the amount earmarked for staff salaries at Emergency Medical Service Centres has been set aside for adjustments. In Mitov's words, this reserve is meant to compensate workers in case mistakes were made.

Mitov is urging the Health Ministry to assist in updating the clinical pathways’ price by 10% in order to raise wages in hospitals, as well. He said that some regional hospitals are not as active as others and will not be able to provide the wages set in the current collective labour agreement.

"We have common ground that an option should be sought to be able to keep these hospitals operating and seek a way out of the crisis rather than deepening it," he added. Mitov expressed concern that there might be a new health minister before the next meeting takes place. It is scheduled for June 18.

Georgi Bakalov, an ambulance driver at the Emergency Medical Service Centre in Sandanski (southwestern Bulgaria), claimed that the funds earmarked for salaries were distributed incorrectly and the workers were disadvantaged. According to him, the amount that has been set for salary increases is not the same as the one that was initially promised. Currently, the basic monthly salary of ambulance drivers is BGN 1,366 while BGN 1,800 had been promised, he stressed.

Spaska Vetova, an orderly at the Neurology Clinic at Sofia's Tsaritsa Yoanna - ISUL University Hospital, noted that the basic salary of hospital orderlies is BGN 1,100, while that of nurses is BGN 1,750.