Doctors in Bulgaria will begin a relay strike in November to protest against funding problems, Podkrepa Labour Confederation Secretary Evgeni Doushkov said on Wednesday, emerging from a joint meeting of national strike committees, also involving the leadership of the Bulgarian Medical Association (BMA).

The meeting discussed the situation in the public health sector, the pension system, the Bulgarian State Railways and the energy sector. While protests will be staged in health care, workers in the other sectors will stay on strike alert, the unions said.

Doctors will protest against "the inadequate and inconsistent actions of the power-holders in respect of the funding and the possible reform in the health care system," BMA Chief Secretary Dimiter Lenkov said. They demand adequate funding in the system, payment of the Health Ministry's dues within a month, and
redress against the Ministry representatives in the Supervisory Board of the National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) for the failure to pay for physicians' services.

They also want to know about the Ministry's and the NHIF's roles in decisions on setting delegated budgets and payments for hospitals.If the demands are not met, the doctors will go on effective strike, the participants in the meeting said.

BMA President Tsvetan Raichinov accused the government of failing to fulfill any of the conditions in its agreement with the Association. "There is no guarantee that the system will operate normally and that people will have access to quality medical treatment," he said.

Asked whether he believes Finance Minister Simeon Djankov that no transfer will be made from the NHIF to the Health Ministry, Raichinov said he does not believe Djankov about anything, "because anything he says does not hold for more than a few hours or days, and nothing he says is true". It is because of
the Finance Minister's actions that the doctors are considering protests, he added.

During the protests, only emergency treatment services will stay in operation, Raichinov said. "None of the doctors wants to work in a system which prevents him from discharging his duties and breeds corruption due to underfunding," he said.

Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria Vice President Nikolai Nenkov said the strike committees are satisfied with Wednesday's developments concerning the pension reform. He added that the unions are on standby for possible protests until an agreement is concluded. BTA