The parliamentary Committee on Health has decided to raise the pay of the people employed at state-run psychiatric hospitals by 50% as of 1 May this year. The MPs tasked two cabinet ministers - of health and of finance – to take the necessary steps, at a Council of Ministers’ level, to provide the 12.5 million Leva (EUR 6.39) needed.

• Psychiatrists threaten a mass resignation over the crisis in mental health care
• Psychiatric care in Bulgaria relies on only 572 specialists

“We shall submit a proposal for the funds to come from the restructuring of central budget spending,” said Minister of Finance Temenuzhka Petkova. Kostadin Angelov, chair of the National Assembly Committee on Health added that a way is being sought to raise the labour of anesthesiologists and surgeons working in radiation units from third to second job category.

These steps come one week after specialists working at psychiatric hospitals organized a protest to demand a raise in pay and job category.