Over the past 25 years, 24,000 medical nurses have left Bulgaria, said Milka Vassileva, Chairperson of the Bulgarian Association of Healthcare Specialists. Vassileva voiced concerns over that fact that in Bulgaria one medical nurse takes care of 30 patients. She said that abroad the starting monthly salary of a nurse was 1800 euro, while in Bulgaria it was just 266 euro. The country experiences a shortage of obstetric nurses and medical lab technicians.