General practitioners continue their strike movement for a better re-evaluation of their profession and advice. Gabrielle Hengy, doctor in Limogne, will demonstrate in Paris this Thursday.
The diagnosis is wrong. And there is urgency. General practitioners continue their strike movement initiated by the Doctors for Tomorrow collective on December 1st. “The requests are simple, it is about improving our working conditions in order to succeed, on the one hand, in keeping the doctors present in the area, and, on the other, in attracting new doctors”, explains Gabrielle Hengy, a doctor in Limogne. He will be mobilized this Thursday January 5 in Paris for the scheduled event departing from the Panthéon at 1.30pm. 2,000 doctors from the collective are expected. The march will take the direction of the Ministry of Health where a delegation from the collective will be received. “And we hope it’s more than just a cordial discussion,” she notes. In the Lot, the start of the mobilization of general practitioners was particularly followed with an estimated 70% of medical practices on strike.
Simple requests therefore, and which have not moved since the beginning of the strike movement, a month ago. “We are asking for the consultancy to be increased to 50 euros in order to be able to hire the personnel we need in the field and to be able to arrange our premises to meet the demand”, explains the doctor. On a consultation paid 25 euros by the patient, the doctor benefits from 35 euros thanks to the premiums paid by the CPAM. Only ten euros remain in his pocket after paying taxes and charges.
Consultation for 50 euros
Only today the mobilized doctors no longer want this bonus: they prefer a consultation with a price of 50 euros. “These bonuses are opaquely calculated and have no interest in the care provided to the patient. We don’t want to be dependent on these aids and this would allow us to hire a medical secretary or an intern,” she notes. . Even if, in the end, it will be the patient who will have to put more hands on his wallet… «We understand that the patient feels penalized but also pays for an expert opinion, we stay with him for fifteen or twenty minutes, it’s the right price for a quality medicine “, slips. A price that would also motivate, in the eyes of the community, young doctors to establish themselves in the territories that need them.
In Limogne, the practice of the three liberal doctors currently on strike, including Gabrielle Hengy, could do with some work. «Ideally we would also like to change location because they are no longer up to standard and are no longer big enough. And then we would also like to extend the working hours of our medical secretaries or hire an assistant», explains the doctor. But due to lack of budget, doctors will surely have to do without them. Adding to the list of their anger is the fixed price structure of the CPTS (local health professional communities): “If we don’t join, we have the impression of being bad carers”. And a bill presented on January 15 to the National Assembly that would strengthen the skills of nurses. The doctor requests a meeting with Lot’s two deputies “to talk about these fundamental problems”.
