Sofia Echo, May 10, 2011 The crisis in the Bulgarian medical sector is deepening with more qualified personnel leaving the country because of low wages and poor working conditions. Current rates suggest that about a thousand nurses leave the country every year to work abroad. As a consequence, the number of qualified health-care professionals in Bulgaria has halved and continues to decrease, the private television channel bTV reported on May 10 2011. Favourite destinations for Bulgarian nurses are the UK, Italy and Spain, the report said. ... Bulgarian

Associated Press, July 25, 2007 London - After eight years in prison
for allegedly infecting more than 400 Libyan children with the HIV
virus - charges widely viewed as a frame-up - five Bulgarian nurses and
a Palestinian doctor were freed yesterday. But not before the
government of Libyan strongman Moammar Gadhafi negotiated a settlement
with several European nations that ranged from $400 million in cash
payments for the children’s families to a pledge to help restore
Libya’s archaeological sites. ... Nurses

Associated Press, July 24, 2007 Sofia - Five Bulgarian nurses and a
Palestinian doctor were pardoned by President Georgi Parvanov upon
their arrival in Sofia on Tuesday after spending 81⁄2 years in prison
in Libya. The medics, who were sentenced to life in prison for
allegedly contaminating children with the AIDS virus, arrived on a
plane with French first lady Cecilia Sarkozy and the EU’s commissioner
for foreign affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner. The six came down the
steps from the airplane and were welcomed on the tarmac by family
members who hugged them, one lifting the Palestinian doctor off the
ground. ... Bulgarian

Associated Press, July 17, 2007 Tripoli - The death sentences for five
Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor accused of infecting hundreds
of Libyan children with HIV have been commuted to life in prison, a top
Libyan official said Tuesday. The ruling came after the families of the
children each received $1 million and agreed to drop their demand for
the execution of the six, who deny having infected more than 400
children and say their confessions were extracted under torture.
Libya’s Supreme Court had upheld the six medics’ death sentences last
week, but the Judiciary Council meeting late Tuesday is a government
body that can overrule the court. ... Official

Associated Press, July 11, 2007 Tripoli - Libya’s Supreme Court on
Wednesday upheld the death sentences of five Bulgarian nurses and a
Palestinian doctor convicted of infecting more than 400 children with
the AIDS virus. But the verdict may not be the final word in the case.
Libya’s Supreme Judicial Council, which is headed by the minister of
justice, could approve or reject the convictions or set lighter
sentences. Libya’s foreign minister said the council would convene on
Monday. Libya has been under intense international pressure to free the
six, who deny infecting the children. The case has become a sticking
point in Libya’s attempts to rebuild ties with the United States and

FOCUS Information Agency, May 27, 2007 The press secretariat of Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov has been administered (sic) to announce that the Head of State finds the decision of the regional court in Tripoli to acquit the Bulgarian medics and Palestinian doctor on the slander case as a positive step and good sign. According to the president no matter that the decision is not final and is liable to appeal it sheds hope at the overall just outcome of the Libya AIDS case. Bulgaria is satisfied with today’s decision of the court in Tripoli to acquit the nurses on the slander case, spokesman of the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dimitar Tsanchev told FOCUS News Agency. ... Tripoli

Reuters, April 26, 2007 Sofia - Five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death for infecting Libyan children with HIV may be released by the end of June, a European Union diplomat said on Thursday. German ambassador to Bulgaria, Michael Geier, told Bulgarian daily Sega that talks between the European Commission and Tripoli were likely to ensure the release of the nurses, who have been detained in Libya since 1999. The five nurses and a Palestinian doctor were convicted in December of deliberately infecting 426 children in the 1990s in a highly politicised trial that hampered Libyan attempts to end decades of diplomatic isolation. ... Bulgarian

Xinhua, February 10, 2007 Thousands of Bulgarians from across the country will stage a major rally on Friday in support of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor, who were sentenced to death in Libya last year. The rally, under the slogan "You are not alone," is aimed at marking the eighth anniversary of Libya's arrest of the six people on charges of "infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV with malice," the Sofia News Agency reported. It will be the highlight in a series of events to show unprecedented unity of the nation and support for the nurses, said the report. ... Bulgaria

Reuters, January 30, 2007 Addis Ababa - Italy's prime minister said on Tuesday he had appealed to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to spare the lives of five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor sentenced to death for infecting hundreds of children with HIV. "I did this in a very heartfelt way because this is a problem that has been going on for eight years," Romano Prodi told reporters after meeting Gaddafi on Monday night during an African Union summit in Ethiopia. He said Gaddafi had replied "that there are still problems of reparations and compensation (to the families of the victims) but he would reflect on what I told him and we would talk about it again." ... Gaddafi

Sofia News Agency, January 25, 2007 Nurses from the biggest emergency hospital in Sofia went on a strike on Thursday, demanding higher pays. The nurses from the central operating theatre were joined in their protest by their colleagues from other wards of the hospital as well as their assistants. They refused to enter the theatres, causing a total of eighteen scheduled surgeries to be cancelled. The protestors assured that they would not boycott emergency cases. ... Low-Paid

Tsvetomira Georgieva, Focus News, January 24, 2007 Associate Professor Georgi Paskalev, President of the University of Medicine, in an interview with FOCUS News Agency, commenting on the migration of Bulgarian nurses abroad and possible changes in the educational programs for nurses FOCUS: Mr Paskalev, what is your explanation about the fact that more and more nurses leave Bulgaria to work abroad?
Georgi Paskalev: The problem with the nurses who leave Bulgaria is important to all those involved in medicine – including the Minister of Health Professor Radoslav Gaydarski. He is keen on medicine. He put this problem forward about a year ago and certain measures were undertaken. ... Georgi

Associated Press, January 15, 2007 Sofia - Bulgarians around the country are showing their support for five Bulgarian nurses sentenced to death in Libya after they were convicted of infecting children with AIDS, pollsters said Monday. A court in Tripoli last month convicted the nurses and a Palestinian doctor of intentionally infecting the Libyan children, despite scientific evidence the youngsters had the virus before the medical workers arrived in Libya. The verdicts outraged many in Bulgaria, and "the salvation of the Bulgarian nurses became a cause that united the whole nation," wrote Capital weekly on Sunday. ... Bulgarians