Several hundred medical workers took to the streets of Paris on Thursday afternoon to protest conditions in French hospitals as new cases of the coronavirus skyrocket across the country, Medical Strike in France.
Demonstrations and protests were also held in a number of other French cities, including Annecy, Besancon, Saint-Etienne, and Rennes, reports France24.
The reason for Medical Strike in France
With the rise in infection rates and the rapid filling of the intensive care unit (ICU) beds, healthcare workers are demanding higher wages, better working conditions, and more staff to respond to the outbreak.
“Hospitals and other government agencies in France have collapsed due to overtime activity since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic , without the necessary human and physical resources,” said the General Confederation of Labor for Health and Social Work (CGT Sante et Action Sociale) union.
In the last week alone, the number of hospitalizations for coronavirus increased by 6,529 in France , according to the latest figures from the government agency France Public Health (Santé Publique France) – 1,750 new patients were admitted to the country’s intensive care units.
“Hospitals and other government agencies have collapsed due to overtime activity since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, without the necessary human and physical resources”
Salaries of Medical Staff
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Jean Castex , announced, after several protests and a medical strike in France, on Thursday that the government plans to speed up the timetable to introduce the second half of the monthly € 183 pay rise for healthcare workers from March 2021 until “the end of the year”.
Prime Minister Jean Castex added that staff who postponed their vacation plans for next week would also receive a € 110-200 per day bonus. This will be a big relief to the medical workers on strike.
Still, the government’s efforts are not enough for the hundreds of healthcare workers protesting on Thursday across the country. The medical strike in the country may impact the politics of France as well.
“The situation in hospitals is even worse than the first wave, emergency services are overwhelmed,” Lionel Le Plagnel, a medical spokesman who took part in the protests in the western city of Rennes, told The Eastern Herald.
Overall, France currently has 809,684 confirmed cases of coronavirus, making it the country with the second-highest infection rate in Europe after Spain.
Note, in France from today imposed curfew , which will last for the next four weeks. But the medical strike in France will impact the country’s health system.
