It is a good time to remember all the excellent work they are doing, the good care and the never ending efforts to improve and to be top notch professionals.

"The medical profession is more than a job, it is a mission, it can even be called an art. A physician must devote himself entirely to his work and be by the patients' side, without thinking about his day off," says one of the best MDs in our country - Dr. Georgi Stamenov, founder of the Nadezhda Hospital for women's health.

Dr. Stamenov believes that dreams can come true - with a little help from modern scientific discoveries in medicine. He has high hopes for the young colleagues he trains and prepares in his medical practice. But he points out that the conscientious practice of the medical profession also requires decent pay, because when doctors are underpaid, they will not be relaxed and confident and willing to stay in the country, but will seek a better life abroad. Here, of course, comes the role of the state.

A few days before the professional holiday of health workers, there was a discussion about raising their salaries. Trade unions and the government agreed to raise basic salaries in the sector by nearly 60%.

This means that a doctor's monthly paycheck will be no lower than BGN 1,900 (EUR 950) and nurses' salary will be BGN 1,500 (EUR 750). Hospital managers in small towns, however, doubt whether the promised additional funds will allow them to increase the salaries of medics.

The cost of health services in Bulgaria is high for patients as most people have very low incomes. This situation makes trust in the doctor as a person and a specialist even more important:

"I always advise my patients to trust their intuition. When you look the doctor in the eye, once you’ve talked to him, your inner voice will tell you more about your condition than all the medical websites and forums you might have read.

The issue of physician remuneration in this country is no different than it is for physicians around the world. Every specialized practice needs funds - in order to buy certain equipment or to introduce a certain method in medicine. The hospital calculates how much the equipment will cost and how much money it will return to the clinic. Therefore, it is not for the doctor to sets the price in medicine - it is a matter of market mechanisms which are imposed by the circumstances."

According to Dr. Stamenov, the patient needs to know that the doctor understands his problem, that he knows how to solve it and what needs to be done, and then the patient will trust him. Recently, however, another problem has arisen:

"More and more people are getting their information from the internet. They think they know more than the experts, but they don't. This attitude is harmful to all fields of knowledge; expertise is under threat.

The good thing is that Bulgarians fully trust the doctor, seek his opinion and the doctor's work is respected."

Editor: Darina Nikolova

English version: Elizabeth Radkova