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STRIKES

Doctors surgeries close in France as GPs stage new strike

General practitioners in France staged another strike on Tuesday that led to doctors surgeries closing as they call for better investment in community healthcare.

Doctors surgeries close in France as GPs stage new strike
(Photo by JEFF PACHOUD / AFP)

GP doctors in France walked out again on Tuesday, just a few weeks ahead of a key deadline in which France’s social security apparatus, Assurance Maladie, must reach an agreement to a structure for fees for GPs for the next five years.

A protest march was also due to take place from the Ministry of health to the French Senate in Paris.

Le Figaro reported that Tuesday’s strike action could be larger than previous mobilisations by general practitioners, and that this time SOS Médecins doctors will also walk out, as they call for the rates for home consultations to be upgraded.

READ MORE: Urgent care: How to access non-emergency medical care in France

Previously, general practitioners staged walkouts in December and over the Christmas-New Year holidays in early January.

Hospital doctors in France are largely barred from striking, but community healthcare workers such as GPs are self-employed and therefore can walk out. 

Their walk-out comes amid mass strike actions in February over the French government’s proposed pension reform. You can find updated information on pensions strikes HERE.

Previous industrial action led to widespread closures of primary care medical offices across the country. In December, strike action saw between 50 to 70 percent of doctor’s surgeries closed.

New concerns among GPs

Doctors are concerned about the possibility of compulsory ‘on-call’ hours.

Currently, French GPs take on-call hours on a voluntary basis. Obligatory on-call time for primary care doctors was scrapped in the early 2000s after GPs mobilised against the requirement.

However, representatives from the Hospital Federation have called for it to be reinstated in order to help relieve emergency services.

Additionally, GPs are calling for Saturday shifts to considered as part of their standard working week, in order to allow for a two-day weekend.

Striking primary care doctors are more broadly calling for actions by the government and Assurance Maladie to help make the field more appealing to younger physicians entering the profession, as the country faces more “medical deserts” – parts of the country without GPs – and for working conditions to be improved.

Those walking out hope to see administrative procedures to be simplified and for the basic consultation fee – typically capped to €25 – to be doubled to €50.

In France patients pay the doctor upfront for a visit, and then a portion of the fee is reimbursed by the government via the carte vitale health card. The remainder, or part of it, is reimbursed via mutuelle insurance schemes.

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HEALTH

MAP: Tiger mosquitoes reach northern France

Tiger mosquitoes, which carry a range of potentially deadly diseases, have now been detected in northern France including Normandy, which had previously been spared.

MAP: Tiger mosquitoes reach northern France

The Normandy Regional Health Agency announced that they had detected tiger mosquitoes – which can carry deadly diseases such as dengue fever, zika and chikungunya – in the region, according to a memo published on Tuesday.

As a result, every French region now has tiger mosquitoes present. Previously, Normandy was the only region to not have detected the insect’s presence.

Originally from Asia, the mosquitoes have been detected in Europe for several decades and have been gradually moving north through France, aided by the changing climate and warmer weather.

The health authorities specified in the memo that “at this time, no local transmission of any mosquito-related diseases have been found in Normandy.”

The Normandy Regional Health Agency specified that they had observed tiger mosquitoes in the Seine-Maritime département, which means that the insect is present in 71 of France’s 95 mainland départements, as seen in the map below (blue: present; white; not yet detected)

Tiger mosquito populations have been growing steadily in France for the last two decades, in part thanks to rising temperatures due to the climate crisis.

Experts have previously said they think that France will be fully colonised by 2030.

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In even worse news, it seems that mosquito traps and repellents being tested by local authorities are not very effective.

Sleeping under a mosquito net will protect you at night, but unlike European mosquitoes, tiger mosquitoes come out during the day as well as at night.

The best advice that experts can offer is to make sure there is no standing water near your home, as this is where mosquitoes breed.

Researchers are currently looking into other methods of control such as sterilising female mosquitoes.

Although dengue fever, zika and chikungunya can prove fatal, they are rarely so with good medical treatment.

What do tiger mosquitoes look like?

They are very small, about 5 mm, and they have a 'highly contrasting colour, with black and white stripes on their body and legs.

Credit: Agence regionale santé normandie

If you believe you have spotted a tiger mosquito, you can report it to public health authorities online.

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