They “won't let go”.
The SOS Médecins federation affirmed that “100% of its structures” followed “the total cessation of activity” scheduled for Monday, which some intend to extend, even if several “have been requisitioned” for night guards.
The warning shot did not go unnoticed.
"All 63 associations and their 1,300 general practitioners have achieved a total shutdown of their activity since 8 am this morning," said SOS Doctors in a press release.
Its president, Dr Jean-Christophe Masseron, says he is "very satisfied with the mobilization" and affirms that its members "will not give up".
Since the start of the day, the call centers were unreachable and the practitioners did not provide consultation or home visits.
Other actions in the coming days
The federation had decided at the beginning of September to call its members to such a day of action in order to obtain an increase in the price of home visits, planning to reveal the date at the last moment to avoid that "the movement is killed in the egg ”by early requisitions.
These were not long in coming: in Toulouse, La Rochelle, Dijon, Nantes, Saint-Nazaire, Bordeaux, Pau and Bayonne, among others, the local associations “were requisitioned to carry out permanent care this night. ".
"SOS Médecins will obey all the requisitions", assures the federation, adding however that "complementary and local actions" are already planned in the coming days, in particular "the stop of the visits during the day" in Nantes, Cherbourg, Toulon , Fréjus, La Rochelle, Mulhouse, Avignon and Bayonne.
Towards a new mobilization in the coming weeks
The federation also warns that its national mobilization "could be renewed or extended in the coming weeks", depending on upcoming discussions with the Ministry of Health and Health Insurance.
The CSMF (Confederation of French Medical Unions) called on "the government to hear this cry of alarm and to resolve this problem as quickly as possible", in a statement.
Read alsoSOS Doctors: 5 minutes to understand the reasons for the strike
"The movement of SOS only underscores the low prices for home visits", estimated the CSMF, deeming "ridiculous" the increase in travel for a home visit, limited to 3.50 euros per night and 10 euros in daytime.
SOS Médecins "makes it possible to better resolve the problem of medical demography in large cities and the difficulty of exercising the profession of general practitioner", underlined the union which has in its ranks many doctors practicing at SOS Médecins.
