“There is a lack of 10 to 20% of the usual workforce”, indicates the union of substitute doctors

“There are emergency service closures everywhere in France”assures Éric Réboli, president of the National Union of Hospital Replacement Physicians, Wednesday April 19 on franceinfo, while the Ministry of Health denies the figure of 70 services temporarily closed in hospitals, advanced Tuesday by the union.

>> TESTIMONIALS.”It’s worse than last summer”: the salary cap for temporary doctors puts hospitals under tension

“If we remove all the employees of a company, how do you want it to work? There, we have removed all the replacements. So, effectively, 10 to 20% of the usual staff are missing. All establishments are affected, even Parisian establishments”says Éric Réboli. “People, at night, can no longer get treatment without going through number 15 which is completely congested”he denounces, pointing to the consequences of the Rist law, which came into force on April 3 to cap the remuneration of temporary doctors at 1,400 euros gross per 24-hour call.

“It’s not acceptable”

Several political figures of the majority have recently denounced the salaries of temporary workers, which can go up to “5,000 euros a day”. “These excesses only exist in their imagination”, believes the president of the national union of substitute doctors in hospitals. According to him, a 24-hour call was paid “between 40 and 60 euros per hour” before the Rist law, i.e. between 960 and 1,440 euros for 24 hours. “Now, they want to pay us 25 euros an hour, after 10 or 20 years of experience, this is not acceptable”protests Éric Réboli, who recalls that temporary workers reinforce services that are sometimes located far from their homes.

“The real drifts”according to him, these are the internal “poorly paid” with “10 or 12 euros per hour”or foreign doctors “paid 17 euros per hour”. Éric Réboli denounces “the exploitation of a hospital workforce, derives from the French hospital employer”.