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As of April 3, hospitals will no longer be able to pay fortunes to temporary doctors. The cap on on-call rates has been increased to operate the services, but some hospitals may be understaffed.
Filling the gaps in the doctors’ duty schedule, a real headache for Doctor Aude Valance, at the Pont-à-Mousson hospital (Meurthe-et-Moselle). As of April 3, the Rist law will cap the remuneration of substitute doctors, temporary workers. Result : “The interim doctor who was to intervene the week of April 17 to 22 does not come”, she explains, annoyed. The regulatory price was already increased on Monday March 27 by the Minister of Health, from 1,170 euros gross for 24-hour care to 1,390 euros gross. It was not enough.
A situation that could become untenable
If in small hospitals like that of Pont-à-Mousson beds close for lack of doctors, the tension will be reflected in the reference hospitals by a domino effect. An emergency physician is acting. He will refuse to work at the public hospital for 1,390 euros per day and he believes that the situation will become untenable. “Several weeks with services everywhere in France closed and this workload will shift to open services which will explode”, he warns. The replacement doctors’ union should be received at the Ministry of Health on Thursday, March 30.