PARIS, Dec 26 General practitioners and doctors In other specialties, private practitioners went on strike from December 26 to January 2 to demand a doubling of patient fees, BFMTV reported.
«Doctors are calling for the closure of their offices from Monday with a demand to increase the fee for an appointment from 25 euros to 50 euros, as well as to improve their working conditions,» the media specifies.
This is the second protest movement of doctors in a month, before that, doctors' strikes took place all over the country in early December. It is organized by the association «Doctors for Tomorrow» (Medecins pour demain), created in September 2022 to draw attention to the shortage of doctors in the country and the difficult conditions for their work, as well as the trade unions SML, FMF and UFMLS.
Doctors complain about overcrowded hospitals amid ongoing epidemics of influenza, coronavirus and bronchiolitis in the country.
«There are epidemics, but there are also chronic patients. Today we no longer have the opportunity to manage our patients, whether they are newborns or the elderly. We have long queues for consultations,» said physician Florence Lapika.
According to the media, this strike will not be as massive as the action on December 1 and 2, when up to 30% of offices were closed, however, industry experts are preparing a large-scale national action to be held on January 5.
In the summer, demonstrations of medical workers took place throughout France demanding higher salaries and more staff, as well as expressing dissatisfaction with the government's policy in the field of healthcare.
As trade unions have previously pointed out, a health crisis is imminent in France, and health workers have been trying to draw attention to the situation in public hospitals and medical and social institutions for three years already.