3,500 doctors promise to “disobey” if state medical aid for undocumented immigrants is eliminated

Some 3,500 employed and self-employed doctors, opposed to the abolition of state medical aid (AME) for undocumented immigrants, are committed to “disobey” And “continue to provide free care” these patients if the device were to disappear, in an appeal sent, Saturday, November 11, to AFP.

“I, a physician, declare that I will continue to provide free treatment to undocumented patients according to their needs, in accordance with the Hippocratic Oath that I have taken,” details this “declaration of disobedience”. Among the signatories are emergency physician Patrick Pelloux, Julie Chastang, vice-president of the College of General Medicine, and pediatric nephrologist Rémi Salomon.

“My door is open to you”

This text was initiated by professors Antoine Pelissolo and Jean-Marc Baleyte, two psychiatrists who are heads of department at the Henri-Mondor hospital in Créteil and at the intercommunal hospital center in this town in Val-de-Marne. “I will remain indifferent to their social or financial conditions, as well as their language and nationality”promise the signatories. “Ethics prescribes the right care for each person who consults me. Wisdom denounces ethical fault and in passing epidemiological error”, they continue. Before concluding : “Patients from here and elsewhere, my door is open to you. And will remain so.”

The AME covers 100% of the health costs of foreigners in an irregular situation present on French soil for at least three months, subject to resource conditions. His detractors accuse him of generating a “air call” for illegal immigration and to cost “too expensive”, currently 1.2 billion euros per year for 400,000 beneficiaries (3,000 euros per year per beneficiary).

During consideration of the immigration bill this week, the Senate adopted an amendment that removes AME and transforms it into “emergency medical aid.” The government did not oppose it, but the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, has since declared that he “didn’t wish” that the text remains as is. Three thousand caregivers had already signed a forum last week in The world calling to preserve this system “public health”.