New strike by general practitioners, practices closed from December 26 in the Nord and Pas-de-Calais
Consultation at 50 euros, reorganization of the healthcare system… The Doctors for Tomorrow collective is relaunching a second strike, after that of December 1, based on the same demands. General practitioners will close their practice on Monday, December 26, for an indefinite period.
Better not to be sick during these end-of-year celebrations. From Monday, December 26, and for an indefinite period, general practitioners will close their practices as part of a protest movement initiated by the collective Doctors for tomorrow.
A strike that invites itself in a tense climate, while a triple winter epidemic of Covid-19, bronchiolitis and influenza, weighs on saturated emergency services. Thursday, the Minister of Health, François Braun, himself qualified the situation “critical at the level of the health system”.
Extended working hours, overdose of administrative tasks and declining income… The reasons for the protest are similar to the strike already called at the beginning of December. The demands focus once again on the revaluation of the consultation fee from 25 euros to 50 euros.
In Croix, Dr. Charani canceled all of his appointments scheduled for Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 December. He had already closed his practice at the Parc health center on December 1, to show his anger.
The practitioner regrets that this anger has not “not heard”. “General medicine is suffering, he throws. So if the government wants doctors, you have to put money on the table.” If he estimates that the price at 50 euros “seems a lot”, he explains that he “you have to set the bar high to then prepare”.
Not all doctors will be closing their practices next week. Doctor Bock, if he says “solidarity” with the strikers, will receive its patients as planned. “We cannot leave them without care in such a tense context in hospitals with the epidemic situation, assures this person in charge of the health center of Denain.
This liberal medicine could have repercussions on the Samu and the hospital, already mistreated during this holiday period. “It will bottle up the regulation, says Charles Charani, who keeps guards at 115 du Nord. The number of calls is already phenomenal at the moment.”
The extent of participation in this strike and its duration remain undetermined at this time. However, Dr Charani claims that on the Whatsapp thread dedicated to the movement, his colleagues “have recovered well”.