Health minister Katya Ivkova says the ministry will offer €1,550 in pay to young doctors training as specialists under a state order.

Young doctors are protesting tonight. The minister says their demands are fair and will be met.

Ivkova spoke to reporters before a forum on demographics. She said young doctors have the right to protest because Bulgaria is a democracy. She hopes their demands and energy will not be used for political ends. Her commitment, she said, is to the future of young doctors, not to anyone's political campaign.

The minister says she has been in talks with them since the start of her term and has given them her personal mobile number. The ministry is working to raise pay for trainee specialists.

The online portal for trainee specialist posts in health care works only at a technical level. Ivkova says it cannot fully run without a change in the law.