Overview
- Several thousand private-practice physicians rallied in Paris on January 10, denouncing an alleged “authoritarian drift” and urging Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu to intervene.
- Measured office activity remained depressed earlier in the week, down about 19% for general practitioners and 12% for specialists, according to Assurance Maladie data cited by the health minister.
- Hospital emergency departments reported heavy strain during flu season and recent snow, with Paris’s Saint-Antoine noting roughly a 40% surge in visits and multiple hospitals triggering white plans.
- The health minister invited unions to meet and signaled that requisitions are available to maintain care, but the intersyndicale rejected the Saturday meeting and called for responses from Matignon.
- Private clinic leaders forecast major operating-room disruptions early next week, with the sector’s trade group estimating up to 80% of blocks affected and some on-call practitioners reportedly requisitioned, while about 2,000 operating-theatre doctors plan a symbolic trip to Brussels on Sunday.