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HEALTH

French doctors call for strike on Friday

Some doctor's offices in France may be closed on Friday, as 'généraliste' doctors plan to walk out in protest of a proposed law that they feel will make their field less attractive to new candidates.

French doctors call for strike on Friday
A patient at a doctor's appointment in France. (Photo by SEBASTIEN BOZON / AFP)

Many primary care doctors/GPs in France plan to stage walkouts in response to a proposed bill aimed at combating medical deserts.

The bill is to be debated on Monday, June 12th. 

Brought forward by Frédéric Valletoux, of the centre-right Horizons Party, the bill would change the current medical system so that primary care doctors are required to take on-call hours. Currently, this is done on a voluntary basis – obligatory on-call hours for GPs was scrapped in the early 2000s after mobilisation against the requirement.

It would also make it so that entry level doctors would not be able to take on locum work, and strengthen the regulatory role of regional health agencies (ARS).

In response to the bill, “Doctors for Tomorrow” an association representing healthcare professionals and general practitioners referred to the contents of the bill as a “final blow to primary care medicine”.

Specifically, the association denounced the text for not taking into consideration “the real needs of healthcare professionals”. 

The French Union for Liberal Medicine, which also represents GPs, has joined in calls for strike action, adding, according to Le Parisien, that the bill could “permanently destabilise the general practitioner healthcare system, by causing a drop in GPs setting up their practices”.

Hospital doctors in France are not permitted to strike, but medecins généralistes are self-employed and therefore can strike.

For several months at the end of 2022 and start of 2023, GPs mobilised to increase government investment in making the field more attractive, which included pushback against making on-call hours mandatory. In December, walkouts by primary care physicians led saw between 50 to 70 percent of doctor’s surgeries closed.

France currently has a shortage of GPs and it is estimated that about 30.2 percent of the French population lives in a medical desert – a geographical zone where healthcare providers and general practitioners are severely lacking compared to the rest of the country. 

For GPs, a large part of the problem has to do with the appeal of their field – particularly in regard to pay and the heavy administrative burden placed on them. 

In April, France’s ministry of health said they would increase the rates for medical appointments, but instead of raising consult fees by €5, as unions had pushed for, the increase announced was €1.50. 

In response, unions, such as the Confederation of French Medical Unions, called the rate increase ‘humiliating’, according to Le Parisien.

Member comments

  1. I’m surprised by how little French GPs can actually do. They write prescriptions or refer you to specialists. In the UK doctors have to be at a senior level before they can become GPs, hence the level of service they provide e.g. my UK GP taking a monthly delivery of nitrogen to ‘burn’ off minor skin problems. Here – at least in my area – getting a rendezvous with a dermatologist is almost impossible and has weeks/months waiting list.

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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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