A little administrative respite for doctors who have a foreign diploma and who were threatened with losing their position if they had failed a selective competition this year. The government announced on Monday January 22 to extend their work authorizations and allow the winners of the competition to remain in their current services.
In a press release, the Minister of Labor, Health and Solidarity, Catherine Vautrin, explains that she wants, at the request of the President of the Republic, “secure the situation of Padhue (practitioners with qualifications outside the European Union), doctors who have become essential to our health system”. Doctors who did not pass the competition “will not be left without a solution: the government will authorize them to continue working in the months to come”specifies Catherine Vautrin.
These practitioners, who have often worked for several years in French health establishments, were this year forced to pass a competition called “knowledge verification tests” (EVC), to be able to continue practicing. A derogatory regime which previously allowed establishments to hire non-laureates under various precarious statuses has been ” extinct “ by December 31, 2023, making it impossible for them to remain in their position.
Limited number of places
The limited number of places in this competition, with 2,700 positions for several thousand candidates, some of whom take it abroad, left a large number of them in the lurch. Some even found themselves without papers, because their residence permit is often conditional on their work.
The heads of service and hospital unions had also denounced the territorial distribution planned for the winners of the competition, whose assignment is made by State services, believing that it would deprive many services of part of their resources. .
The extension of work authorizations for doctors who have a foreign diploma will be worth up to “the publication of the implementing texts of the law of December 27, 2023 aimed at improving access to care through the territorial commitment of professionals [dite loi Valletoux]which will allow the issuance of provisional certificates of practice pending a new passage of EVC in 2024”specifies the minister.
Emergency situation
“The situation of the nearly 2,700 winning candidates” is she too “clarified” : “to guarantee continuity of care and not disrupt services (…)the winners already working on the national territory will be maintained in their current functions and structures”she assures. “The other winners will choose their positions in the coming weeks. »
“Our health system suffers from a lack of human resources. We cannot do without these thousands of women and men who contribute to ensuring the provision of care”declared Catherine Vautrin to Agence France-Presse.
“It’s about time, it’s a first element of response to this emergency situation which was unacceptable”, reacted the general secretary of the CGT, Sophie Binet. But points “remains to be resolved”whose duration ” too short “ residence permits. For those who see themselves extended until EVC 2024, “if it’s to repeat the same competition it’s pointless”she added, believing that this competition is “too academic” And “discriminatory for doctors who work sixty hours a week”.