While the National Rally (RN) came out on top in the first round of the legislative elections, the prospect of the far-right winning an absolute majority is worrying at the hospital. The far-right party has included in its program the principle of ” national preference “, which aims in particular to reserve certain jobs for French nationals. However, the public hospital system depends very heavily on foreign doctors.
It is a proven fact: many sectors of the French economy would not function without foreign labor. Among them, the case of the hospital is emblematic. According to figures from the National Council of the Order of Physicians, 27% of doctors in hospitals were trained outside France. For half of them, it is a country outside the European Union (EU), which constitutes the Padhue – For ” practitioners graduated from outside the European Union “.
Within the framework of the Padhue, doctors of medicine or pharmacy, fully operational, are initially recruited under student statuspaid 1,700 euros gross, much less than a doctor trained in France. In exchange, there is the promise that their diploma may one day be recognized in France.
In theory, they have two years to pass the exam that should allow them to have their diploma recognized. In reality, things are more complicated. There are two-thirds of failuresrecalls Éric Tron de Bouchony, a retired hospital doctor who is following the Padhue case for the CGT. This is not due to their low value: their skills are very generally recognized by their department head. These failures are due to the insufficient number of positions put out to competition. “According to him, this is an arbitrary quota set so as not to compete with doctors trained in France.
” A huge waste »
Foreign doctors are only allowed two attempts. Returning to the country is illusory when we know that half of them have acquired French nationality. “, insists Eric Tron de Bouchony. After two failures, the only alternative left to them is to retrain in a paramedical profession.
Thus, while 15,000 doctor posts are currently vacant in hospitals, each year several thousand doctors in post are refused the right to continue practicing. A huge waste “, comments the doctor.
Last January, French President Emmanuel Macron himself acknowledged the absurdity of the situation, calling on his government to ” to assume ” of ” regularize a number of foreign doctors who sometimes keep our healthcare services running “, in the name of the fight against medical deserts.
Since then, a new status facilitating their temporary recruitment has been devised, but due to the dissolution of the National Assembly, we are still waiting for the decree which was to bring it to life.
There is no shortage of concrete examples. Zaïneb is Moroccan, a graduate of the Faculty of Medicine in Casablanca. She arrived in France on a university exchange in the middle of the Covid-19 epidemic, before returning at the invitation of her department head once she graduated.
She is now a radiotherapist oncologist in a hospital in the north of France. At the end of 2023, she narrowly missed the equivalence competition and suddenly found herself unable to practice, while the department was already short of specialists. My patients found themselves without a radiotherapist overnight, my colleagues had to share my consultations “, she explains to RFI.
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” Without foreign doctors, the health system collapses »
The hospital management was quite satisfied with his work, but ” she had no legal way to keep me “.
For three months she exercises despite everything. I worked without a residence permit, I saw my patients as if nothing had happened, even though I had no papers “, she recalls with a nervous laugh. Since then she has obtained a temporary residence permit, she can continue to work, but only until next April. ” I have a one-year residence permit instead of a six-month residence permit, which means fewer trips to the prefecture. ” she says ironically.
In a column entitled ” Without foreign doctors, the health system collapses “, published on January 17, 2024 by Pointmore than 200 professionals from the sector, including doctors Mathias Wargon and Hocine Saal, had already called for a lasting solution to be found to the situation of the Padhue.
The RN backtracks on its desire to reduce the Padhue
The possible arrival of the National Rally in power worries them. In Marine Le Pen’s program for the 2022 presidential election, it was written in black and white the RN’s wish to ” drastically reduce the use of doctors who graduated outside the EU ” The leader of the extreme right then qualified her remarks, putting forward the need for ” true equivalences » between diplomas.
An argument dismissed by Eric Tron de Bouchony: “ Between 2002 and 2005, criteria were found for equivalence between a diploma obtained in Athens and a diploma obtained in Stockholm. Why couldn’t we do the same thing between a diploma obtained in Beirut and a diploma obtained in Rennes? The harmful effects of national preference will not pass through the hospital. »
“Statistically, one in two patients and one in two colleagues voted for the RN”
In the midst of the legislative campaign, the statements of candidates of the National Rally have not reassured. In 2022, the far-right candidate in the 1st constituency of Vosges was thus surprised that ” other doctors from other countries, who do not have our know-how, come to treat us by learning on the job, why should we not do the same? » « Just because you’re not good at school doesn’t mean you can’t perform well on the field. ” she assured during a televised debate, under the dismayed gaze of journalists and other candidates on the set.
A few days after our interview, Zaïneb sent a message to RFI: “ In Aisne, where I work, there was a record vote for the National Rally. More than 50%, whether in the European elections or in the first round of the legislative elections. This means that statistically, one patient in two, one colleague in two voted for the RN. I have the impression that even my colleagues do not realize that I am foreign. I am not even dual national, I am a foreign doctor. These discriminatory measures, this rise in xenophobia that we are already seeing on social networks will affect me directly. ” she explains bitterly.
Yet she remembers the unanimous mobilization of her colleagues and patients when she was threatened with expulsion in early 2024. As if ” the stranger ” could not also be the person who treats you.
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