A collective representing French private doctors is calling for a week of strike action until 2 January for an increase in consultation fees and an improvement in working conditions.
The collective Médecins Pour Demain (Doctors for Tomorrow) maintained its call for a strike during the second week of holidays in France despite the government's call for a "union" of health professionals as French hospitals are overwhelmed by three epidemics: Covid, bronchiolitis and flu.
The collective, created at the end of the summer, and supported by some trade unions, already took strike action on 1 and 2 December.
The closure of medical offices resulted in a drop in activity of around 30 percent by GPs according to France's health insurance funds.
"It's the final cry of alarm from private doctors in the face of the collapse of the health system as a whole," said Noelle Cariclet, spokeswoman for Doctors for Tomorrow, on France Info.
A psychiatrist from the Ile-de-France region, she "deplores" the fact that practitioners are "forced to close their practices in order to make themselves heard".
Her colleague Christelle Audigier, a general practitioner from Lyon and founder of the collective, says that the mobilisation "will be a little less, but still significant".
Doubling of the basic consultation price
Their main demand relates to a doubling of the basic price of the medical consultation from €25 to €50.
This, in order to make a medical profession that is "understaffed and overwhelmed by administrative tasks", a little bit more attractive to young people.
But the main unions say that the discussions opened this autumn have made "progress" and do not want medical offices to be closed during the holidays.
However, the president of the MG France union recognises that "working conditions need to be improved", in order to enable health professionals to see more patients.
Agnès Firmin Le Bodo, Minister for Territorial Organisation and Health Professions, called for everyone to act "responsibly" at a time when hospitals are under pressure.
She also promised proposals "in the coming weeks" to respond to private doctors' demands while a national demonstration is planned for 5 January in Paris.
