“Now is not the right time. (…) We do not go on strike before starting to discuss. The tone is firm, this Wednesday, on the part of the Minister of Health François Braun. At the end of his visit to the Annecy Genevois Hospital Center, he denounced a strike “unwelcome in this period of extreme difficulty for the health system” on the part of liberal doctors, while France is affected by a triple epidemic of Covid-19, influenza and bronchiolitis.
“I don’t question doctors’ right to strike at all, but it’s really a very bad time,” he continued, also referring to the saturation of a large number of emergency services.
“It is not in the most difficult period that it is a good thing to strike, we have institutions that allow discussion. (…) My door has always remained open, it will remain so to solve the problems, ”argued the minister. “I thank all those who are on the bridge,” insisted François Braun, who had “firmly” condemned this call for a strike on Monday.
The Samu and the overwhelmed emergencies
“This strike comes at the worst of times,” said Tuesday on France Bleu Alsace Marc Noizet, head of emergencies in Mulhouse and head of the Samu-Urgences de France association. “We are at the limit of what we are able to do with the means at our disposal at this end of the year period,” he lamented.
Same story from Patrick Pelloux, president of the association of emergency physicians in France. Asked about BFM TV, he evoked “an absolutely awful image” at the sight of the queues which are lengthening near the services of SOS Médecins in particular. “Now is not the time, the French need us,” he explained. We have never seen that. »
The “Doctors for Tomorrow” collective, created at the end of the summer, called on liberal doctors to go on strike between Christmas and New Year’s Day, with the support of several unions (UFML, FMF, SML, Young Doctors).
The central demand of the “Doctors for Tomorrow” collective remains the doubling of the basic consultation fee (from 25 to 50 euros) to create a “shock of attractiveness” towards city medicine in dire need of staff, crushed by the administrative tasks and which no longer attracts young people. The collective is planning a national demonstration in Paris on January 5.