Lithuanian doctors rally for pay rise to halt exodus

A thousand young Lithuanian doctors rallied in Vilnius on Thursday demanding faster wage growth that would stop their exodus from the Baltic eurozone state to richer western European nations.

"We lack a clear vision for a salary rise and medics are leaving the country as a result," Urte Builyte, a 26-year-old junior doctor, told AFP.

Lithuania's centre-left government has pledged to raise doctors' wages by 20 percent in May this year from the current average 1,093 euros ($1,320) a month.

But the protesters, who marched along the main street of the capital, demanded a bigger rise for junior doctors, who still study and receive 750-900 euros a month, including their scholarship.

Some of them brought suitcases to warn they will be forced to seek a better life in the West.

"I want to work here!" they chanted in front of the government building, also calling for less bureaucracy.

Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis said his cabinet was planning a stable increase in doctors' wages for the years to come.

"It's not like we are sitting on a sack of money and refusing to spend it," he told reporters after meeting the protesters.

Lithuania's finance ministry expects the economy to post 3.6 percent growth for 2017 and to grow further by 2.9 percent this year.

But there are no signs that emigration to the west will stop in the near future, after the population shrunk from 3.5 million in 2001 to its current size of 2.8 million.