In a context of chronic hospital crisis, these young doctors still in training are called upon to observe a “day without intern” for their salaries and working conditions.
They represent up to 40% of the medical staff in certain hospitals and yet today, we will have to do without them. Medical interns are called to strike this Friday.
“The young doctors are in psychological distress” and their working time “blithely exceeds the legal maximum” of 48 hours a week, alert the national Intersyndicale des interns (ISNI) in a statement.
A triple claim
In a clip broadcast on social networks, they denounce the extended weeks, low wages and working conditions that jeopardize their mental health. The demands of the unions are threefold: an increase of €300 per month or 15% increase, the strict count of working time and a housing allowance indexed to rents.
“Interns are a population with a lot of depressive disorders,” says BFMTV Jonathan Moisson, intern who participated in the video.
The young doctor explains that, according to a recent survey, 26% of interns have depressive symptoms and three out of four anxiety disorders. “There are suicides of interns very regularly,” he adds. According to ISNI in 2021in France, an intern kills himself every 18 days.
Risk of “blackmail”
The date of this Friday was not chosen at random: it is the last day of training for interns, who change departments or hospitals each semester. “Our hierarchies have less pressure on us if we decide to be on strike,” Olivia Fraigneau, president of ISNI, told BFMTV.
She explains that as young doctors, they expose themselves to “blackmail”. “We will say ‘if you go on strike, you will not have your doctor’s degree and you will never be able to practice here'”.
“The goal is to make noise through silence,” she adds.
A very tense context
This call for a “day without intern” has spread among the other organizations of carabins, from interns in general medicine at Isnar-IMG, to undergraduate and graduate students from Anemf, to recent graduates from Jeunes Médecins .
Their elders from the SNMH-FO, although in the minority among hospital practitioners, also joined in by filing “a strike notice in support of interns and their demands”.
This strike comes in a context of chronic crisis in the hospital, on the eve of a long weekend of May 1st at high risk, due to a shortage of temporary workers. Indeed, the turn of the screw on the prices of these substitute doctors (capped at 1390 euros gross for 24 hours of work) has for almost a month led to the closure of services – total or partial – in dozens of public hospitals.
