The new president of the Languedoc-Roussillon interns’ union, Colin Azria, explains why the situation will be particularly worrying in hospitals this year.
Why are many intern positions going to be eliminated this year?
This is actually a consequence of the reform of the second cycle of health studies. Medical studies take place over three cycles, a first of three years which begins with the well-known competitive examination of the first year. This is followed by the externat – a sort of alternation – also a period of three years. This second cycle ends with a very difficult competitive examination.
And the new reform concerns this competition. Implemented in 2023 and therefore effective this year, it added an exam on practical skills, called ECOS. However, many negative feedbacks from students have been recorded on this point, depending on the examiners.
Is this what led to a lot of repeats and therefore fewer new interns?
Many students did not want to test this competition, to be the crash test class. And we cannot blame them. It is this competition that will determine the specialty and the city in which the doctor will be able to practice. It is therefore not to be taken lightly. We cannot therefore blame the students who made this choice. Result: between 1,000 and 1,500 students in France chose not to take the exam in order to be able to repeat the year.
Voluntarily?
Yes. They chose to sacrifice a year of study in this long course.
And this is what is causing a reduction in staff numbers this year… Do you know the figures for the Montpellier area?
In the area that concerns Montpellier – Languedoc-Roussillon – the reduction will be of the order of fifty posts. We will have the exact figures in October.
What will this actually lead to?
It should be noted that interns represent 40% of medical staff in hospitals, who work an average of 59 hours per week for a net salary of 1,614 euros. When you are in the hospital, it is always an intern who welcomes you. I hope that the reduction caused will be fairly uniform so as not to further penalize certain services that are already under strain.
Especially since the situation of interns is already not easy…
According to a study, an intern commits suicide every 18 days. These doctors who are not yet doctors are already overworked. Fewer positions means a workload to distribute, dangerous care for the patient if there is not enough rest, and burnouts to be expected.
What solution?
These positions will not be replaced. There would always be the possibility of calling on FFIs, “acting as interns” who are mainly practitioners of foreign origin waiting to obtain their equivalence. This status is not considered in France, they are paid 20% less than interns and their workload is heavy.
You are the new president of the Languedoc-Roussillon interns’ union. Is that quite a commitment?
I have always been involved in associations, so this union is a logical next step. I had to take over the presidency quite naturally in August after my predecessor was elected president of the national inter-union of interns.
It is a commitment that is important to try to advance the cause of interns, to discuss with health actors, to create a healthy work environment. Our work needs to be as intelligent as possible to be relevant.
A petition has been launched to request the urgent reopening of boarding school positions. This Wednesday, August 21, she had obtained nearly 30,000 signatures.
