Started on December 26, the strike of general practitioners was renewed for a second week, until January 8. On its website, the Médecins pour Demain collective calls on striking liberal doctors to keep their offices closed and to take to the streets on January 5.
Should doctors be forced to go into medical deserts?
The strike call launched for December 26 had been supported by several unions, in particular the UFML (French Union for Free Medicine), the FMF (Federation of Doctors of France), the SML (Union of Liberal Doctors) and Young Doctors. Since the start of the movement in December, the closure of medical practices has led, according to health insurance, a drop in activity of around 30% among general practitioners.
The collective is calling for a doubling of the basic consultation fee (from 25 to 50 euros) to create a “attractiveness shock” towards a city medicine glaringly short of manpower, crushed by administrative tasks and which no longer attracts young people.
An “unwelcome” movement
All doctors’ organizations are worried about their freedom of installation, challenged by proposed laws on medical deserts. They are strongly opposed to the possibility that advanced practice nurses (APNs) could be authorized to prescribe.
“Medical deserts are spreading and taking root”
“Unfortunately, the government did not deign to pay attention to us despite this first week of strike”regrets the collective on its site, which deplores having been “unfairly lectured” by the Minister of Health.
Visiting Annecy on December 28, François Braun had castigated a movement “unwelcome” from doctors during the holiday season, when France was hit hard by a triple epidemic of influenza, Covid-19 and bronchiolitis. While the queues are getting longer in the SOS Médecins centres, several associations of emergency doctors have also shown their dissatisfaction.
