Hundreds of nurses, midwives and laboratory assistants protested across Bulgaria on December 13, to press for higher salaries and to urge the government to stop an exodus of medical workers, Reuters said.

Thousands of doctors and nurses had left Bulgaria in the past 18 years, attracted by higher pay in western Europe, the United States and the Middle East, Reuters said.

Medical unions said the exodus had accelerated since Bulgaria joined the European Union in 2007, leading to staff shortages.

"A young nurse will start working for 220 leva a month and retires later with a pension of 100 leva. This is ridiculous," Stanka Markova, head of the Bulgarian Association of Healthcare Professionals, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

"It's only normal that they go abroad immediately after finishing school," Markova said.

The Association of Healthcare Professionals was demanding a doubling of nurses' minimum salary to 440 leva a month and a reduction of the length of university education from four to three years.

Bulgaria has pledged to reform its inefficient health sector, but has done little to tackle the problems, Reuters said.

Earlier in 2007, teachers staged a six-week strike, demanding a 100 per cent salary increase. Miners, doctors, social workers and pensioners have also demanded more money.

The government said that meeting all demands would pose a risk to the economy and increase inflation, which was already in double figures, Reuters said.