medical regulation assistants on strike in nearly three quarters of centers demand better working conditions

2023-08-14 17:08:37

Absent doctors, emergencies “regulated” : “exhausted” by a sharp increase in activity, the medical regulation assistants (ARM), the first to pick up calls to the SAMU, are on strike in sixty-nine of the hundred « centres 15 » departmental. They are calling for wage increases and hiring, according to their national association.

This indefinite strike, which began on July 3, is not very visible, because the striking ARMs are, like many caregivers, “generally assigned by the administration, and therefore to their position”, without loss of salary, explains to Agence France-Presse Yann Rouet, co-president of the French Association of Medical Regulation Assistants (Afarm). The strike did not “no impact on the quality of response for the French”he says.

While in the heart of summer, many hospitals have to restrict access to emergencies for lack of caregivers, and many general practitioners are absent, the authorities enjoin“call 15” as a first resort. For ARMs, “this necessarily generates additional activity”of the order “by 30%, like last summer”especially in tourist areas, explains Mr. Rouet.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers At the hospital, the summer promises to be tense in many establishments

Agents “at end”

“In the field, it’s complicated, we have the same time to manage a call”, “not always a solution to provide” to callers. Officers are “tired, exhausted, some are clearly exhausted”continues this ARM from Côtes-d’Armor.

“We are calling for recognition of the current hardship”, i.e. a monthly bonus of 100 euros, and details of the new grids promised “during the passage of the Rist law”When “the profession has been recognized as a health profession”adds Mr. Rouet.

The Afarm is also asking for hiring, while it lacks, according to it, “about eight hundred ARM” in France to meet the needs and that the government intends to generalize the healthcare access service (SAS) by the end of the year.

This service – which aims to guide certain patients from the 15th to care in city medicine, when their state of health does not justify recourse to emergencies – must be generalized by the end of the year.

While the Minister of Health goes Monday afternoon to the bedside of emergencies and SAMU, in Toulouse (Haute-Garonne), “we would like him to talk about the profession”said Mr. Rouet, who is waiting “a strong gesture”. Every year, the SAMUs receive a total of some thirty million calls. According to the Court of Auditors, this number increased by 22% between 2014 and 2021.

Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Aurélien Rousseau, new Minister of Health, a “good student” in the face of high expectations

The World with AFP