liberal doctors in the street to “save general medicine”

The procession left from the Panthéon, in the 5th arrondissement of Paris, to join the Ministry of Health. The signs reflect the fed up of the demonstrators in white coats, exhausted by working conditions which they consider deplorable. ” It’s medicine that we’re murdering », « Doctors, not minions ” or ” We take care of you, take care of us “. On arrival, the demonstrators, who came from all over France – 4,000 according to the organizers – knelt down and brandished their stethoscopes while observing a minute of silence.

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A young general practitioner, replacement near Besançon, recounts her daily life with patients: “ We can no longer treat people properly with the current means. We are turning the examination sheet from one patient to another to save money “. Feeling despised, many are those who evoke the “de-plating”, that is to say the cessation of their activity or the deconvention.

Exhausted doctors

Their demands: the doubling of the basic consultation fee (from 25 to 50 euros), better organization of care to free up medical time, incentives for settling in or billing for appointments not honored. “ We have a population that does not have access to care and doctors opposite who are exhausted by a chronic understaffing, denounces Moktaria Ali Kada, spokesperson for the Doctors for Tomorrow Collective. We work longer days and the job no longer attracts. »

Installed as a general practitioner in Vaulx-en-Velin, near Lyon, since 2006, Moktaria Ali Kada has seen in sixteen years the number of doctors reduce and the working days lengthen. And with fees judged ” too low impossible to hire staff to take care of administrative tasks and free up medical time. ” The young colleagues, seeing their colleagues exhausted, under pressure, tired, do not settle down. We tell ourselves that if this continues, in two years, liberal medicine will no longer exist. And liberal medicine is a medicine that does 90% of the care, ” she is alarmed.

Arm wrestling in progress with the government

After a first strike in early December, the collective called for the closure of medical practices after Christmas and until January 8. The movement, which will not be renewed next week, has been sharply criticized by Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne, because it has increased ” stress on the hospital » in times of winter epidemics.

” let’s be reasonable “, reacted for his part the Minister of Health François Braun, who closed the door to 50 euros, but reiterated that the consultation would be well revalued within the framework of the current negotiation of the convention binding the liberal doctors to the ‘Health insurance for the next five years.

An amount of ” 50 euros would be relatively extravagant “, abounded the director of Health Insurance, Thomas Fatôme, noting that several of the main unions of doctors, 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 proliferation of bills aimed at restricting the freedom of establishment of practitioners in order to repopulate medical deserts.

► To listen also: Strike of the liberal doctors: “We are the great forgotten of Ségur”

A profession “in danger”, access to care too

A delegation of general practitioners was to be received at the Ministry of Health on Thursday to discuss their avenues for saving, in their words, liberal medicine. “ It’s quite simple to understand: we revalue the fee, we create a shock of attractiveness. We free ourselves from the administrative tasks done by the people we are going to employ, we create wealth, and access to care is improved, and patients will have effective access to care », summarizes Dr. Moktaria Ali Kada.

Their fear: the establishment of a two-speed medicine. ” We are not in the United States, nor in England, we are not an Anglo-Saxon country. Access to care for all is very important. Me, if tomorrow, I can only treat people who can afford it, I won’t stay “Warns the doctor.

For several months now, health professionals have been fighting to denounce their working conditions and obtain additional resources. President Emmanuel Macron is expected in Essonne this Friday, January 6 to present his wishes to health professionals and lay out the main lines of “refoundation” of a breathless healthcare system, in hospitals and in town.

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