© Yoan Valat/EPA-EFESign reads, "Added value doctor equals stable doctor." Jan. 2
Comment: Hospitals have been struggling with 'soaring demand' for many years, however during the lockdowns the government tried to convince us that they were 'overwhelmed' because of Covid.
Some of the country's local general practitioners have been on strike for seven days.
They were set to go back to work on Monday but have now extended their strike through Sunday.
They are seeking an increase in the base rate for consultations from $25 to $50 and improved working conditions, specifically the ability to hire secretaries and to attract health professionals to neighborhoods where there is a shortage of doctors.
A protest march to the Health Ministry in central Paris is planned for Thursday, according to the group Doctors for Tomorrow. François Braun, the French health minister, has criticized the timing of the action, saying that the strike was particularly unwelcome while the country faces the triple threat posed by seasonal flu, the Covid epidemic and the respiratory infection bronchiolitis.
Comment: Apparently the 'tripledemic' bleated by politicians and the media isn't as serious as the deteriorating working conditions.
"It is a bad period, we live a week of all dangers," Braun said. He said last week the entire French health system is under enormous pressure due to the strike's timing.
Comment: Meanwhile, over in the UK, nurses also recently called for strike action, and which was the first time they'd done so, over similar complaints against their government.
The same politicians that today are rejecting the calls for additional support for the healthcare system were, just last year, proclaiming their adoration for healthcare workers, who were 'risking their lives on the frontline', and that people should come outside every evening to applaud them; however this winter is seems that scaremongering over Covid isn't high on the propaganda medias agenda:
Meanwhile soaring energy costs, due to the anti-Russia sanctions, and the rather suspect issue of over half of France's nuclear plants being 'offline for maintenance', are throwing other citizens out of business: