Yasmina Kattou
This Friday marks the return of the strike. The unions are putting pressure on the government before the major conference on wages which opens on Monday. A movement announced to be very popular among doctors, whether general practitioners or specialists, with a renewable strike to obtain an increase in the price of consultations.
What should patients expect this “Black Friday”? Liberal doctors are called to a renewable strike, during the examination in the Senate of the Valletoux bill. A controversial law in the sector since it proposes to regulate the installation of liberals in medical deserts or even to provide on-call duty and work on weekends. The twelve unions have united for this mobilization which promises to be very popular among the more than 80,000 liberals who work in France.
“We will demonstrate that our role is still important”
It will therefore be very difficult to find an open doctor’s office. Consequence: we will have to turn to the Samu, warns Philippe Cuq, spokesperson for the twelve unions and collectives of doctors who are calling for a strike. “Consultations are deprogrammed, interventions are deprogrammed, technical procedures are deprogrammed. Emergencies will be transferred to the public hospital with the problems of the public hospital that we know today and saturated emergencies. We will demonstrate that our role is still important,” he says.
The spokesperson announces a very strong mobilization of doctors, whether unionized or not, among the more than 80,000 liberals who provide around two million consultations every day. Last year, the movement lasted several weeks before ending in a failure of negotiations. Doctors are expecting an increase in prices: at the general practitioner, for example, the price of the consultation must increase to 26.50 euros on November 1st. Insufficient for the strikers, who are demanding 30 euros or even 50 euros for certain unions.