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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
National
RFI

French doctors stage symbolic ‘exile’ to Brussels over health policy row

Demonstration organised by private sector doctors to denounce an ‘authoritarian drift’ in the healthcare system in Paris, on 10 January 2026. Sign reads "doctors under pressure, patients without solutions". AFP - BERTRAND GUAY

Hundreds of private-sector doctors have travelled to Brussels in a symbolic protest against French health policy, warning that mounting pressure on private medicine risks undermining patient care and hospital capacity at home.

Hundreds of anaesthetists, surgeons and obstetricians donned surgical caps, white coats and packed small suitcases on Sunday as they left France for a symbolic three-day “exile” in Brussels, protesting against the government’s health policy and what they see as a sustained squeeze on private medicine.

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