France: liberal doctors on the street to "save general medicine"
After a first strike at the beginning of December, the group Doctors for tomorrow had called for the closure of medical offices after Christmas, a movement renewed until January 8.
AFP - EMMANUEL DUNAND
Text by: RFI Follow
4 mins
Thousands of liberal doctors demonstrated this Thursday, January 5 in Paris to obtain a revaluation of the consultation.
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The procession left from the Panthéon, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, to join the Ministry of Health.
The signs reflect the fed up of the demonstrators in white coats, exhausted by working conditions which they consider deplorable.
"
It's medicine that we're killing
", "
Doctors, not minions
" or even "
We treat you, treat us
".
On arrival, the demonstrators, who came from all over France – 4,000 according to the organizers – knelt down and brandished their stethoscopes while observing a minute of silence.
►
Also to listen: On strike, general practitioners want to "refocus on care"
A young general practitioner, substitute near Besançon, recounts her daily life with patients: “
We can no longer treat people properly with current means.
We are now turning over the examination sheet from one patient to another to save money
”.
Feeling despised, many are those who evoke the "de-plating", that is to say the cessation of their activity or the deconvention.
Exhausted doctors
Their demands: the doubling of the basic consultation fee (from 25 to 50 euros), better organization of care to free up medical time, incentives for settling in or billing for appointments not honored.
“
We have a population that does not have access to care and doctors across the way who are exhausted by chronic understaffing,
denounces Moktaria Ali Kada, spokesperson for the
Collectif Doctors for tomorrow
.
We work longer days and the job no longer attracts.
»
Installed as a general practitioner in Vaulx-en-Velin, near Lyon, since 2006, Moktaria Ali Kada has seen in sixteen years the number of doctors reduce and the working days lengthen.
And with fees deemed "
too low
", impossible to hire staff to take care of administrative tasks and free up medical time.
“
The young colleagues, seeing their colleagues exhausted, under pressure, tired, do not settle down.
We tell ourselves that if this continues, in two years, liberal medicine will no longer exist.
And liberal medicine is a medicine that does 90% of the care, ”
she is alarmed.
Arm wrestling in progress with the government
After a first strike in early December, the collective called for the closure of medical practices after Christmas and until January 8.
The movement, which will not be renewed next week, has been sharply criticized by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, because it has increased "
tensions on the hospital
" in times of winter epidemics.
"
Let's be reasonable
", reacted for his part the Minister of Health François Braun, who closed the door to 50 euros, but reiterated that the consultation would be well upgraded within the framework of the ongoing negotiations of the agreement binding the doctors Liberals to Health Insurance for the next five years.
Doubling the price of the consultation with a general practitioner from 25 to 50€, I am against it, but increasing it, why not.
In return, I want the French to have access to a doctor everywhere, including at night and on weekends.
Let the negotiations succeed.
pic.twitter.com/eqiW3mKMhh
— François Braun (@FrcsBraun) January 5, 2023
An amount of "
50 euros would be relatively extravagant
", added the director of Health Insurance, Thomas Fatôme, noting that several of the main doctors' unions, such as MG France, the CSMF, Avenir Spé or the young doctors of ReAGJIR, did not make this claim.
Doctors' organizations, on the other hand, are forming a common front against the proliferation of bills aimed at restricting the freedom of establishment of practitioners in order to repopulate medical deserts.
►
Also to listen: Strike of liberal doctors: "We are the great forgotten of Ségur"
A profession "in danger", access to care too
A delegation of general practitioners was to be received at the Ministry of Health on Thursday to discuss their avenues for saving, in their words, liberal medicine.
“
It's quite simple to understand: we revalue the fee, we create a shock of attractiveness.
We free ourselves from the administrative tasks carried out by the people we are going to employ, we create wealth, and access to care is improved, and patients will have effective access to care
,
”
summarizes Dr. Moktaria Ali Kada.
Their fear: the establishment of a two-speed medicine.
“
We are not in the United States, nor in England, we are not an Anglo-Saxon country.
Access to care for all is very important.
Me, if tomorrow, I can only treat people who can afford it, I won't stay
, ”warns the doctor.
For several months now, health professionals have been fighting to denounce their working conditions and obtain additional resources.
President Emmanuel Macron is expected in Essonne this Friday, January 6 to present his wishes to health professionals and lay out the main lines of "refoundation" of a breathless healthcare system, in hospitals and in town.
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To read also: In France, patients in solidarity with the doctors' strike
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