2024-04-07 08:51:51
Prime Minister Gabriel Attal made a series of announcements on city care. Among them, the establishment of a tax for patients who do not honor their appointment without warning or the increase in the numerus clausus in the second year of medical studies.
Measures that divide. Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced on Saturday April 6 in an interview with the regional daily press several measures intended to curb the crisis in community medicine and difficulties in accessing care, including in particular the introduction of a so-called tax. “rabbit” for patients who do not keep their appointment.
On the side of doctors’ unions, these announcements are received with moderate enthusiasm. The MG France union announced via a press release this Sunday April 7 “to suspend its participation in conventional negotiations pending clarifications and strong commitments on the treating doctor, the care pathway and the future of the conventional system” in reaction to the new measures from Gabriel Attal, saying he was “dismayed”.
“Measures”
Jean-Paul Hamon, general practitioner and honorary president of the Federation of Doctors of France, is particularly severe, on BFMTV this Sunday morning, denouncing “measurements”.
While Gabriel Attal announced that direct access to specialist doctors will be tested, without the patient needing to go through a general practitioner, and that certain medical procedures could be carried out by other professionals, the president of the union of doctors protest. “They want to make the population believe that general medicine is a succession of small acts that can be done by pharmacists, physiotherapists, nurses or teleconsultation booths,” he accuses, targeting members of the government.
What is the “rabbit tax”?
Same concern from Jérôme Marty, general practitioner and president of the union French Union for Free Medicine (UFML-S). “The concept of treating doctor, of referring doctor is something that was installed with the profession (…). There, we would like to shunt to go directly to the specialist,” he laments to BFMTV, accusing Gabriel Attal to “sabotage the system”.
Conversely, Sébastien Guérard, physiotherapist, president of the French Federation of Physiotherapists, sees an interesting measure. “If (a) patient comes at the start of the disease, from the first symptoms and is taken care of, we can hope that the care will be much shorter and therefore, one thing leads to another, freeing up time on patient care. physiotherapy”, he believes, to BFMTV.
A divisive “rabbit tax”
Concerning the implementation of a “rabbit tax” of 5 euros for each patient who does not show up for their appointment without warning, doctors are still divided.
“This is excellent news. We have been asking for it for a long time because it has become a kind of national sport. Each doctor loses on average 2 hours of consultation per week”, greets this Sunday on RMC Sophie Bauer, surgeon and president of the Union of Liberal Doctors (SML).
“It’s a loss for the doctors, but it’s also a loss for the patients who are waiting for appointments and who cannot benefit from these empty (time) slots at the last moment and without warning,” defends -She.
Not enough to convince Jean-Paul Hamon, however, for whom the increase in unfulfilled appointments is linked to the development of the online appointment booking platform Doctolib. “We let Doctolib develop, we reap what we sow,” he says.
Concern about the role given to pharmacists
“Under the pretext of simplification, we short-circuit everything, pushing aside doctors” and “disregarding quality,” he says.
For Jean-Paul Hamon, of the Federation of Doctors of France, this measure is also to the detriment of patients. “When there is angina, you (doctors) look at the throat, but you also listen to the heart, you check that there is no rash. Is the pharmacist going to do that?” , he asks, recalling that the pharmacist has a “health safety” role.
For him, Gabriel Attal does not take care of the essentials. “The Prime Minister is carrying out a communications operation, but he absolutely does not resolve the extremely serious problem which is (medical) desertification,” laments Jean-Paul Hamon.
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