The Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine, wishes to open two hundred positions of “territorial practitioners of general medicine” in areas “under-provided” in general practitioners, mainly rural areas and suburbs considered difficult.
To do this, a decree was published on August 15 in the Official Journal with a number of measures aimed at making medical students want to start their careers far from the city where they studied.
The state guarantees young doctors to earn 3,640 euros net per month, or more than three times the minimum wage. This sum corresponds to the starting salary in hospitals. If the doctor earns less, the state makes up the difference. To be entitled to this minimum wage, the young general practitioner must perform 165 medical acts per month minimum, not charge excess fees and participate in night shifts.
Other benefits are added to the guaranteed minimum wage. The contract provides for maternity and sick leave. The latter is however accompanied by seven days of waiting against three for the employees of the private sector and zero for the civil servants.
Finally, students who agree to settle later in a medical desert are offered a monthly allowance of 1,200 euros gross during their studies.
In France, if we take into account only general practitioners, 3.1 million people live in a medical desert, or 5% of the population (source: UFC Que Choisir). The most affected departments are La Manche, L’Eure, Eure et Loir, Haute Marne and Corrèze.
However, if this measure can provide the beginning of a solution with regard to access to general medicine, it does not concern access to certain specialties which are nevertheless experiencing a significant shortage such as ophthalmology and anesthesia.
It remains to be seen whether these financial incentives will be enough to motivate doctors and their families to move to areas where you don’t have to count your working hours and be prepared to travel miles every day to visit isolated patients.
