A second big move in the space of just a month. Liberal general practitioners are once again called to close their practices from Monday to January 2 to demand an increase in the consultation fee and an improvement in their working conditions, a movement that however promises to be less followed than the from the beginning of December.
Consultation at 50 euros
The authorities’ call for a “sacred union” of health professionals, hoping to “relieve” hospitals overwhelmed by the “triple epidemic” of Covid-19, bronchiolitis and influenza, did not make them give up. Doctors for tomorrow”. .
The mobilization “will be a little smaller, let’s be honest, but nevertheless substantial,” predicted the founder of the collective, Christelle Audigier, who is already preparing for the national demonstration scheduled in Paris on January 5.
“Doctors of tomorrow” calls for doubling the basic consultation fee (from 25 to 50 euros) to create a “shock of attraction” towards medicine in the city that needs staff, burdened by administrative tasks and that attracts more young people.
“There are epidemics but also all chronic pathologies, I believe that we no longer have the means to follow our patients in the long term, whether they are babies or the elderly when they present a lot of health problems, pathologies associated with each one of them.” another asks us for a lot of tasks that accumulate in the course of the consultations, ”she describes, with BFMTV, Florence Lapica, a general practitioner and member of the MG France union.
“respect us”
In addition, medical organizations are concerned about their freedom of establishment, questioned by bills on medical deserts. They are strongly opposed to the possibility that Advanced Practice Nurses (APNs) could be licensed to prescribe.
In general, general practitioners are also protesting against the deterioration of the French health system. “We are facing a dismantling of liberal and general medicine in particular with a deterioration in the quality of care,” insists, with our antenna, Jean-Paul Hamon, honorary president of the Federation of French doctors.
“What the young doctors who ask for 50 euros say is ‘respect us!'”
“It is urgent. If the government had the will to revalue liberal medicine, so that the health system works, both the hospital and the liberal to avoid hospitalizations and shorten them, it would hold a conventional three-day seminar that would be conclusive,” adds the professional.
Requisitions?
Since the current negotiations with the Health Insurance have produced “breakthroughs”, several of the main unions (MG France, CSMF and Avenir Spé) do not call for cabinets to be closed during the holidays. Health Minister François Braun praised his “responsibility”, given the “critical situation” of hospital emergencies.
“It seems to me a very bad time not to respond to the health needs of the population,” argued the general director of the Île-de-France Regional Health Agency (ARS), Amélie Verdier.
If necessary, the ARS may requisition strikers. One of the leaders of the movement, Jérôme Marty (UFML), delays:
“If the demand is high due to the circulation of the virus, we will accept some patients.”
The movement of December 1 and 2 had caused a drop in activity of around 30% among general practitioners, according to Health Insurance. The collective then announced a new strike between Christmas and New Year, a call it has maintained since then, with the support of some unions (UFML, FMF, SML, Young Doctors).
Source: BFM TV
