The strike of liberal doctors extended until January 8 – RT in French

Believing that it is not being listened to by the government, the Doctors for Tomorrow collective has decided to continue the mobilization started in December, announcing a day of national demonstration in Paris on January 5.

The strike of the liberal doctors, which began on December 26, is renewed from this January 2 until January 8, announced the group Doctors for tomorrow on its site. Health Insurance estimated between 5 and 10% the decline in activity of general practitioners last week, the collective affirming for its part that it was around 70%.

The doctors grouped together in the collective specify that they have taken this decision “with great regret and bitterness”, but justify their choice by the fact that “the government has unfortunately not deigned” to give them attention. “There is no desire to work and respond to our proposals” on the part of the government, lamented on France Bleu Vonick Corvest, one of the spokespersons for the collective.

Unfairly lectured

On the contrary, the practitioners were, according to the organization, “unfairly lectured” by the Minister of Health François Braun. The latter had “firmly” condemned, in a press release published on December 26, the closing of the cabinets and called for “prevailing [l’]spirit of responsibility” while the emergency services are in “a critical situation”.

“We contacted the minister before Christmas, he replied that he would receive us on January 5 without making any other proposal,” the founder of the collective, Christelle Audigier, told AFP. A request for an appointment with Elisabeth Borne remained unanswered, according to the general practitioner, evoking an “ostrich policy” which justifies the renewal of the movement.

The doctors mobilized are demanding an increase in the consultation fee (from 25 to 50 euros) and an improvement in their working conditions in order to restore the attractiveness of a profession which is struggling to renew itself: according to The worldthe number of general practitioners practicing exclusively in private practice has thus fallen by 11% in the space of ten years, going from “64,142 in 2012 to 57,033 on 1 January 2022”.

In addition to this decrease, the distribution of practitioners on the territory is also problematic, certain departments having been transformed into “medical deserts”. On this point, the group of Doctors for tomorrow calls for “strong measures”, including the creation of “ephemeral cabinets in under-endowed areas”.

The collective calls, as part of this mobilization, for a day of national demonstration in Paris on January 5, with a rally in front of the Pantheon (5th arrondissement) at 1 p.m., which will then take the direction of the Ministry of Health.

The first week of 2023 is marked by another mobilization, that of liberal medical biologists, who continue to contest the amount of savings requested of them by the government. They are called upon, also from January 2, to no longer report the results of the tests making it possible to follow the evolution of the Covid-19 epidemic. President Emmanuel Macron should present his wishes at the end of the week to health actors, and try to appease a sector in turmoil.