€40,000 Salary: Heads of State Hospitals Earn More Than Senior Government Officials

The Ministry of Health is preparing changes to the rules governing the remuneration of hospital directors. Some heads of state-owned healthcare facilities receive higher salaries than senior officials in government, Health Minister Katya Ivkova said on June 12.

She revealed that the director of Lozenets Hospital received remuneration of more than €40,000, while the head of the hospital in Blagoevgrad received around €36,000.

Katya Ivkova, Minister of Health:

“The methodology for determining remuneration for participation in the boards of directors of state-owned commercial enterprises will also be reviewed, in order to avoid situations in which healthcare institutions that are in relatively poor financial condition pay unjustifiably high remuneration to members of their boards of directors.

In some cases, the combined amount reaches between €6,000 and €8,000. By that I mean the total of salary plus remuneration for serving on a board of directors. In some instances, this combined remuneration exceeds that of the supervising authority — in this case, the Minister of Health.”