Liberal doctors will march in Paris on Saturday afternoon at the call of all their unions to denounce an "authoritarian drift" in the health system, according to the expression of one of the participating organizations, the Young Doctors union.
The demonstration is part of a strike from January 5 to 15, which is expected to reach a peak early next week when many private clinics will be affected by block closures or reductions in activity.
As a sign of the tension among representatives of doctors, the inter-union group refused on Friday the meeting offered to them by the Minister of Health Stéphanie Rist, at the end of their demonstration.
Several members of the inter-union group, including Dr. Jérôme Marty, president of the UFML, have asked to meet with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu next week.
Having been mobilized since the autumn, general practitioners have already obtained the removal of several measures present in the initial version of the draft social security budget for 2026.
The additional taxation of supplementary fees, or the obligation to consult and update the patients' personal medical record (DMP), have thus disappeared.
However, the final text still contains a provision for the director of Health Insurance to unilaterally set medical rates in certain cases, or to reduce to one month the maximum duration of a first work stoppage.
And practitioners oppose other measures under consideration by Parliament, such as the possibility of imposing prescription reduction targets on doctors who prescribe significantly more than their colleagues in comparable situations.
This provision is included in the draft law against social and tax fraud currently under parliamentary review.
They also fear future restrictions on their freedom to settle, as two bills (Garot and Mouillé) are competing to impose a start of regulation of settlement.
The Minister of Health sent two letters this week to the unions in an attempt to "re-establish dialogue", promising in particular not to use unilateral setting of tariffs.
For its first week, the strike by private practice doctors seems to have had a definite impact.
According to the latest figures, dating back to Tuesday, activity (measured by teletransmissions to the Health Insurance) was down by 19% among general practitioners in private practice and by 12% among specialists.
The situation is putting a strain on emergency services in hospitals, which are already dealing with a peak flu epidemic as well as the falls related to the snow and ice of recent days.
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