The French government is considering imposing a fine on patients who do not attend a doctor’s appointment without a good reason.
Doctors report about 27 million missed appointments each year, French Prime Minister Gabriel Attal said, stressing that “we cannot allow this to continue.”
Thus, the €5 fine is one of the measures planned by the government to strengthen the health system which is facing staff shortages, rising costs and higher demand.
As expected, the proposed fine quickly drew backlash from doctors and patients. “It won’t work. It’s just a tax…,” warned Patrick Pelou, president of the emergency room physicians association.
“It is better to have better information for the citizens, than to tell the professionals that they should be fined, decided for his part the doctor Luc Decunell. “This will cause tension in their relationship with patients,” he added.
The president of the patients’ association, Gérard Raymond, is also against the fine. “This sentence is aimed at making patients feel guilty, not responsible,” he said, according to the Guardian.
How will the fine be imposed?
The new measure will be included in a bill that Gabriel Atal hopes will be approved by parliament and come into effect next January.
Anyone making a medical appointment should provide their credit card details. “If the patient does not show up for the appointment without giving 24 hours notice of the cancellation, the doctor will be able to charge him 5 euros for not showing up,” explained the French prime minister.
The doctor will judge whether the patient had a good reason for missing the appointment in order not to impose the fine. Atal estimates that this would “free up” up to 20 million medical appointments a year.
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