The union representatives of the liberal doctors knew very well that they would not obtain everything they asked for.
But they should be well understood on the revaluation of the price of consultations.
At least in part.
Not enough to put an end to the mobilization.
“We treat you, treat us”: there were thousands to take to the streets in Paris this Thursday.
Organized by the young collective "Doctors for tomorrow", supported by several unions (FMF, UFML, SML and Young Doctors), the national demonstration left the Pantheon around 2:00 p.m. to rally the Ministry of Health, where a delegation was to be received.
In a tide of white coats resounded slogans like "it's medicine that we murder" and "doctors, not minions".
Demonstrators carried signs "liberal medicine abused, medical desert assured" or "the state is obstructing your access to care".
“We can no longer treat people properly with current means”, explains in the procession Alexia Guidez, 30, substitute general practitioner near Besançon.
"We are now turning the examination sheet from one patient to another to save money...".
Arnaud Journois
Coming from Epernay (Marne), Nicolas Huet, 35, works with five other doctors and two secretaries: "that's not enough, but we don't have the means to hire a third".
His goal is “clearly not to double (his) salary”, but to be able to recruit.
This mobilization is timely, on the eve of the wishes to health actors that President Emmanuel Macron must present on Friday around the main axes of "refoundation" of a breathless healthcare system, in hospitals and in the city. .
“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 concretely and maintain care in France?
".
After a first strike in early December, the collective called for the closure of medical practices after Christmas, a movement extended until January 8.
He says that 70% of general practitioners were on strike last week, Health Insurance estimating for its part the drop in activity at 10%.
The movement was sharply criticized by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, who deemed it "really not responsible" because it 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 revalued within the framework of the ongoing renegotiation of the convention linking liberal doctors to Health Insurance.
Read alsoDo French GPs really earn less than their European colleagues?
"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 don't currently have one, I want us to be able to have a doctor at night, on weekends...", he developed.
“The doctors are already fulfilling their duties!
“, replied a spokesperson for “Doctors for tomorrow” from the sound car 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.
