“We treat you, treat us”: liberal doctors took to the streets by the thousands on Thursday afternoon in Paris to obtain a revaluation of the consultation, the government saying it was ready for it if it was “reasonable” and if ” the health needs of the French are met”. Organized by the young collective “Doctors for tomorrow”, supported by several unions (FMF, UFML, SML and Young Doctors), this national event rallied the Ministry of Health from the Pantheon.
Towards a “refoundation” of the healthcare system?
Upon 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, according to an AFP journalist on the spot. Previously had resounded slogans like “It is the medicine which one assassinates” and “Doctors, not minions”. In a tide of white coats, demonstrators carried signs “Abused liberal medicine, assured medical desert” or “The state is obstructing your access to care”.
“We can no longer treat people properly with current means”, explained in the procession Alexia Guidez, 30, substitute general practitioner near Besançon. “We are turning over the examination sheet from one patient to another to save money…”. Coming from the Marne, Nicolas Huet, 35, works with five other doctors and two secretaries: “that’s not enough, but we can’t afford to hire a third”.
This mobilization, rare among liberals, is timely on the eve of the wishes to health actors that President Emmanuel Macron is to present on Friday around the main axes of “refoundation” of a breathless healthcare system, at the hospital as in town. “We will listen very carefully” to the president, said the founder of “Doctors for tomorrow”, Christelle Audigier, to the megaphone, referring to a profession “in danger”. “Does he want to support doctors in concrete terms and maintain care in France?”
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.
“Rights and duties”
The central demand of the collective remains the doubling of the basic consultation price (from 25 to 50 euros) to create a “shock of attractiveness” towards a city medicine in lack of arms, crushed by administrative tasks and which no longer appeals young people. “Let’s be reasonable,” replied François Braun on Thursday. But if he closed the door to 50 euros, the Minister of Health reiterated that the consultation would be well upgraded in the context of the ongoing renegotiation of the agreement linking liberal doctors to Health Insurance.
“I am ready to increase this consultation as soon as the health needs of the French are met”, he underlined, taking up a principle of “rights and duties” which has become his mantra. “I want the 650,000 French people who are chronically ill to have a doctor, because they currently don’t have one, I want us to be able to have a doctor at night, on weekends…”, he said. -it develops. “Doctors are already doing their homework!”, replied a spokesperson for “Doctors for tomorrow” from the car sound of the demonstration.
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 proliferating legislative proposals to restrict the freedom of establishment of practitioners in order to repopulate medical deserts.
The government rather defends a sharing of tasks with other caregivers, in particular nurses, some of whom could be authorized to prescribe. A bill to this effect, brought by Renaissance MP Stéphanie Rist and already opposed by many doctors, arrives in the National Assembly next week.