Angry French doctors confront Emmanuel Macron as coronavirus overwhelms hospitals
- Doctors demand higher salaries and a rethink of the country’s public health system that found itself quickly swamped with thousands of virus patients
- Macron acknowledged mistakes in reforming the national hospital system and promised to launch a new investment plan
“For months I was asking for equipment, and we had only three days to fight against the virus,” Martin Hirsch, head of the Paris hospital network, told Macron.
France’s infections abruptly multiplied over a short period in March.
The French hospital problems long predate the virus crisis, and emergency room workers held strikes and protests for months last year demanding more hiring and funding after years of job losses.
Macron’s government announced a plan last year to address the growing concerns, and injected new money when the virus hit, but Macron acknowledged on Friday: “We undoubtedly made a mistake in the strategy.”
“It was a great strategy, but we should have done it 10 years ago,” he told frustrated staff at Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital.
Macron promised to launch a new investment plan while the virus crisis is still raging, without offering details. “Trust will only come if we move fast,” he said.
An angry reception met Macron on a visit to the same hospital in February, as the president sought to show he was successfully managing the virus. Leading neurologist Dr Frederic Salachas confronted Macron to describe how the virus crisis – which was just barely beginning – had already revealed weaknesses in French hospitals caused by years of budget cuts.
“You can count on me. I don’t know if I can count on you,” Salachas had said.
The damaging exchange aggravated public frustration with Macron. Apparently worried about a repeat scenario, Macron’s office did not allow any photographers or video or radio journalists to witness Friday’s hospital visit.
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And no reporters at all were allowed when Macron met with union members to discuss their grievances.
As he sat around a table in a separate meeting with top doctors, the reception was firm.
“We cannot go back like before,” said Thomas Similowski, head of the hospitals’ medical commission, calling for a rethink of medical training, higher salaries across the board, and more flexibility to deal with new threats.
