In France, 300 foreign doctors or diploma practitioners outside the European Union (Padhue) began a hunger strike to protest against their precariousness and the absence of regularization of their status. Although they work as much as their French colleagues, they are paid three times less and chain precarious contracts, renewable every six months.
The single regularization route is based on an annual competition, 20% of which have been abolished this year, aggravating their situation. This arbitrary selection is denounced as a means of maintaining a workforce fortenable at a lower cost, despite the medical shortage.
The government, which promised their regularization after the COVVI-19 crisis, actually hardened the immigration and work conditions of foreigners. The strikers denounce a strategy aimed at exploiting immigrant workers while promoting the public hospital.
This difference in treatment between French and foreign doctors in public hospitals in France raises a question of equity and recognition of skills.
In France, a doctor practicing in a public hospital receives a monthly salary between 3000 and 6,500 euros according to his seniority and his specialty. However, a foreign doctor recruited under the same conditions can be remunerated around 1,400 euros, two to four times less than his French colleague, despite an often similar workload.
These doctors, often recruited under the status of “associated practitioners”, generally come from countries outside the European Union and must follow a long process of diploma recognition to be able to obtain a position equivalent to that of a doctor trained in France. Pending this validation, they exercise in precarious conditions, with very low remuneration and prospects for limited evolution.
This situation is paradoxical: French hospitals are sorely lacking in medical staff, especially in certain specialties and neglected geographic areas. However, instead of enhancing these foreign doctors, the system imposes working conditions and remuneration that does not reflect their level of competence or their essential contribution to public health.
This situation highlights a contradiction of the French health system: while hospitals have an urgent need for medical personnel, they continue to apply rules that are penalizing those ready to work there.
