Polish Nurses Call Off Tent City Pay Protest

Hundreds of Polish nurses camping outside government headquarters in Warsaw dismantled their tent city on Sunday.

Hundreds of Polish nurses camping outside government headquarters in Warsaw dismantled their tent city on Sunday after failing to achieve their pay demands in four weeks of protest.

"We failed to move the government's conscience. It's a disgrace they did not agree to serious dialogue," nurses' union leader Dorota Gardias told news channel TVN24.

"But this is not the end. We will be back in September and we will turn up in places they can't even imagine," she added.

Deputy health minister Boleslaw Piecha said legislative changes were under way to increase nurses' pay, but added: "Our financial resources are limited."

The tent city was part of a wave of pay protests by nurses and doctors, who staged street marches and hunger strikes that disrupted Poland's health service and forced bedridden patients to be evacuated to other hospitals.

Polish health workers earn about half the European Union average and say the country could face a labour shortage if more of them join two million Poles who have emigrated since 2004.

The government has offered a pay rise of 15 percent per year over three years, arguing that anything more could trigger demands from other workers and lead to a budget crisis.

The nurses have rejected the government offer and demanded an increase that would nearly double their pay.