2040 without doctors: What are we (not) doing today?
no comments
This is not resignation. This is a refusal to continue giving your heart where no one will appreciate it. Staying in your place and fulfilling your work commitments, but stopping doing the “invisible” – the extraordinary, the enthusiastic, the involved. This happens when the sense of meaning is displaced by the feeling of being undervalued. A feeling that makes you cold.
In pediatrics, the feeling of "quiet departure" is even harsher, even colder. Because children's healthcare is systematically underestimated. Clinical pathways for children have not been updated for years, and their values are offensively low. The pay of pediatricians and medical staff is far below the work, responsibility and workload that this specialty requires.
There is no mechanism to guarantee decent remuneration. The Minister of Health transfers responsibility to the hospitals, and hospitals, being commercial companies, are guided by "market principles", even when it comes to saving human lives.
While the state describes "structures and processes" and fantasizes about "new models," Bulgarian medical professionals are faced with the need for basic survival. Doctors working two and three jobs. Residencies whose remuneration is lower than the social minimum for living. Young doctors who leave not because they don't want to stay, but because they have no prospect of a decent existence practicing their profession.
And we, as a society, need to face reality and stop burying our heads in the sand. The problems we face today will hit us with many times more force in the very near future.
According to the new report "AGEING BULGARIA: Demographics, Medical Staff, Future Trends 2040 – 2050", prepared by HTA Ltd., the future of our healthcare system is threatened by demographic collapse and acute staff shortage. The data is crushing:
By 2040, at least:
• 13,900 new doctors
• 20,800 additional nurses
In 2050, 1 in 3 Bulgarians will be over 65. And 75% of the jeeps will retire. Health care costs will skyrocket. From €4.7 billion in 2025 to €11 billion in 2050.
If we don't act now, there will be no "who." No "how." No "what" to reverse this alarming trend.
This is the care we take today so that there is a future tomorrow. To have people who want to stay; to have someone to take on the next child in the hospital – with knowledge and professionalism, but also with peace of mind that their work also has value and is highly valued. Do you want to have a personal doctor? Do you want to have a pediatrician for your child? And do you want this pediatrician to examine you after 36 hours of work in two places? Think about it.
There are people who are not silent and offer solutions. The organizers of the National Protest of Medical Specialists have sent an official invitation to a round table, which will be held on July 2 in the National Assembly. The topic is the problems of young doctors. All parliamentary parties, the Bulgarian Medical Association, unions, hospital associations, and ministers are invited.
A bill prepared by young doctors themselves will be presented, with the aim of real change in pay and working conditions. This is a reasoned direction and a step forward.
When the healthcare system refuses to take care of its people – the doctors, the nurses, the students – they leave. Sometimes quietly. Sometimes – with protests in the streets.
And we, from the For Good Foundation, stand by all who fight for this change – with thought, with responsibility, with a duty to every child who will need treatment tomorrow. The state must prioritize healthcare. And even more so – children's. If they fight, if they are noisy, if they are on the streets, then there is hope. There is a way to keep them. Will we do it?
Share with us – what do you think? Should those working in the most human profession fight for justice alone? Where is the line between duty and exploitation? And what does “care” mean when it doesn’t return to those who give it?
EN 
BG