Medical deserts: white coats take to the streets against the Garot law

On Tuesday, April 29, the Place du Panthéon was gradually filling with white coats. Doctors, young interns, externs, and even medical students all responded to the call from a number of unions of independent doctors to demonstrate against the Garot bill . Whistles, slogans, drumming, and good humor accompanied the simmering anger of a medical world at the end of its tether.

In the sights of young doctors, open coats or stethoscopes around their hands as if to symbolize handcuffs: the bill initiated by Guillaume Garot (PS) , supported by a cross-party group of deputies, which advocates the regulation of the installation of doctors in under-resourced areas. A response deemed insufficient in the face of a much deeper problem. "Forcing doctors to set up somewhere will not solve the lack of resources," says Selma, 22, a ^second -year medical student.

"It's not the doctors who are letting patients down in certain regions, but the government that has let all these regions down," Sihem, 28, a general medicine intern, and Clément, 24, a ^fifth- year student, continue in unison. In their eyes, the waiting times for getting an appointment are skyrocketing everywhere, including in so-called "well-resourced" areas.

Young people in training are also raising concerns about their working conditions: 60-hour weeks, sometimes 110, poverty wages, poorly supervised internships... " A medical intern commits suicide every eighteen days because the working conditions are so harsh. And without these interns on the verge of burnout, the hospitals wouldn't even be running," laments Émilie, 22, a student for five years. "We're paid the same price as a metro ticket per hour, or 2.75 euros. So when we do a fourteen-hour shift without sleeping, we're paid 48 euros."

Some older practitioners, somewhat in the background, are proposing solutions that leave them perplexed. "Retired doctors should be allowed to continue practicing without being overtaxed by URSSAF," suggests Olivier, a general practitioner for thirty-eight years. He adds that financial incentives could help young doctors set up elsewhere.

An opinion that is far from unanimous: for many, the answer lies first in training new doctors and improving working conditions. "Creating more faculties throughout France and training young people more quickly would be a real, fundamental solution. Young doctors would no longer have to "sacrifice" setting up their practice: they would naturally choose the areas where they studied, because they would already have their bearings there," assure Isis, 22, a ^second- year student, and Cécile, a general practitioner for thirty years.

The development of multidisciplinary health centers could strengthen the attractiveness of regions, according to some, by breaking the isolation of practitioners and ensuring better patient monitoring. Despite generational differences, one point of agreement emerges: public policies lack structural ambition. The procession headed toward the Ministry of Health, determined to make its demands heard. Beyond the Garot Law , the demonstrators are calling for a rethink of the entire health system.