St George Hospital Plovdiv Careers, Salaries & Jobs

UMBAL St. George (УМБАЛ „Свети Георги“ ЕАД) in Plovdiv traces its history to a field hospital set up in 1878 and handed on 1 May 1879 to the charitable society St.

Panteleimon, which the hospital counts as the start of the first Bulgarian civil hospital. It became the clinical base of the Medical Faculty founded in Plovdiv in 1945, and has existed as a state-owned company since 2000, with the Minister of Health exercising the state's rights.

The hospital describes itself as the largest hospital in the country, on two sites with about 150,000 square metres of built space. It states more than 1,500 beds and 2,694 staff, of whom 653 are doctors and 925 health care professionals, and its careers page puts the total at nearly 2,900 people. It says it admits more than 80,000 patients a year for active treatment across 65 clinics, departments and laboratories.

It provides round-the-clock emergency and inpatient care for the south-central region, covering Plovdiv, Pazardzhik, Kardzhali, Haskovo and Smolyan provinces. Milestones it lists include the first cardiac surgery clinic outside Sofia in 2002, a CyberKnife robotic radiosurgery system it calls unique in Bulgaria in 2016, three linear accelerators, a PET/CT and SPECT/CT, and an autologous stem cell transplant unit.

For an international applicant, St. George is a large academic employer outside Sofia that publishes detailed adverts. But adverts require membership of the Bulgarian Medical Association for doctors or BAPZG for nurses, and a CV in Bulgarian, so non-EU graduates must complete the Article 186 exam route first.

Founded

1879

Run by

Bulgarian state, with the Minister of Health exercising the state's rights (state-owned company since 2000)

Leadership

• Karen Dzhambazov (Карен Джамбазов), Executive Director (Изпълнителен директор)
• Zhanet Grudeva-Popova (Жанет Грудева-Попова), Deputy Director, Diagnostic and Treatment Activity, Base I (Заместник-директор „Диагностична и лечебна дейност“, База I)
• Ivan Dechev (Иван Дечев), Deputy Director, Diagnostic and Treatment Activity, Base II (Заместник-директор „Диагностична и лечебна дейност“, База II)
• Mariya Bogoeva (Мария Богоева), Chief Nurse (Главна медицинска сестра)

Switchboard

+359 32 60 29 11

• Cardiac surgery and invasive cardiology

  The Clinic of Cardiac Surgery, created in 2002, was the first such structure outside Sofia; the hospital also runs an invasive cardiology department with two coronary angiography suites.

• Radiotherapy and CyberKnife

  A radiotherapy clinic with three linear accelerators and, since 2016, a robotic stereotactic radiosurgery system (CyberKnife) the hospital describes as unique in Bulgaria.

• Medical oncology and haematology

  A Clinic of Medical Oncology founded in 2008 and an autologous stem cell transplantation sector in the Clinic of Clinical Haematology, unique for south-eastern Bulgaria.

• Emergency medicine

  An emergency department with internal medicine, surgery, orthopaedics and trauma, and paediatric units working at the highest third level of competence.

• Surgical clinics

  17 operating clinics and departments, including neurosurgery, paediatric surgery, vascular surgery, urology, plastic surgery and one-day minimally invasive surgery.

• Nuclear medicine

  A nuclear medicine department with a PET unit and a SPECT/CT, which the hospital says is the only one in the city and region.

• UMBAL St. George does not publish an international recruitment programme, relocation help or visa sponsorship offer, and it names no recruitment agency. Its careers pages and adverts are in Bulgarian.
• The adverts are detailed. A May 2026 advert for an emergency department doctor (internal medicine) required a master's degree in medicine, membership of the Bulgarian Medical Association and a CV in Bulgarian, and stated a minimum net monthly pay of €2,050. An April 2026 cardiac surgery nurse advert required a bachelor's degree in health care as a nurse and BAPZG membership, again with a CV in Bulgarian.
• The careers page says employees receive benefits agreed in the hospital's collective labour agreement, including extra pay incentives, additional paid annual leave, food vouchers, life and professional liability insurance and free medical tests. Each advert has an online application form for your name, phone, email and CV.
• International applicants usually reach the hospital after the national route: Bulgarian language exam, Ministry of Health admission, the Article 186 university exam and registration with the BLS or BAPZG.

• The Article 186 route for non-EU graduates. You must prove Bulgarian and professional terminology and pass an exam that includes the state examinations, after the Minister of Health admits you by order. Universities hold the exam twice a year and you must sit it within one year of the order.

• Bulgarian. The exam in Bulgarian and professional terminology under Ordinance No. 15 of 2005 is run by the Institute of Education in Sofia. The hospital's adverts ask for a CV in Bulgarian.

• Professional body membership. Doctor adverts require membership of the Bulgarian Medical Association (BLS); nurse adverts require membership of the Bulgarian Association of Health Professionals in Nursing (BAPZG).

• Work and residence permit. The employer applies to the Employment Agency for a single permit, after a 15-day labour market test, or for EU Blue Card approval; you then apply for a type D visa.

• EU qualifications are recognised under the Recognition of Professional Qualifications Act without the state exams; non-EU citizens with EU qualifications still need the language certificate.

1. 1

   Pass the Bulgarian language and terminology exam

   Register with the Institute of Education in Sofia for the exam under Ordinance No. 15.
2. 2

   Get admitted to the Article 186 exam

   Apply to the Ministry of Health with legalised, translated documents and receive the Minister's order naming your university.
3. 3

   Pass the exam and register

   Sit the university exam within a year, then join the BLS regional college or BAPZG.
4. 4

   Find a vacancy

   St. George lists posts at unihosp.com/obyavi-za-rabota, with duties, conditions, benefits and requirements for each.
5. 5

   Apply online in Bulgarian

   Use the form on the advert to submit your details and a CV in Bulgarian. Each advert gives a phone number for questions.
6. 6

   Arrange your permit

   If you are not an EU citizen, the hospital applies to the Employment Agency for your single permit or Blue Card approval before you apply for a type D visa.

• Emergency department doctor (advert, May 2026)

  At least €2,050 net a month

  Plus additional pay under the Labour Code and the hospital's collective agreement.

• Sector collective labour agreement

  Latest published: 12 April 2022

  Ministry of Health.

• EU Blue Card salary floor

  1.5 times the national average salary

  EU Immigration Portal.

• Nurses: Set by the employerNurse adverts we read did not state a figure.