Thousands march against health law

TENS of thousands of doctors, dentists, pharmacists and medical students marched through Paris on Sunday to protest about a new French healthcare law due to be discussed in the National Assembly from this Tuesday.

Scrapping up-front payments for GP consultations by 2017 is one of their biggest complaints. Police estimate the number of demonstrators at 19,000. Organisers claimed 50,000.

The march ended outside the health ministry, where minister Marisol Touraine agreed to a meeting with some of the union leaders involved.

About a dozen unions representing different parts of the healthcare sector took part in the protest. They said it was the biggest turnout for a health-related march since 2002, when doctors took to the streets calling for a consultation fee increase to €20.

Campaigners say the "tiers payant" system, where a patient pays nothing upfront and a doctor is paid through the social security system, creates excessive bureaucracy and can also lead to doctors' time being wasted on unnecessary visits.

Doctors fear it could also lead to cashflow problems, as surgeries will be dealing with a multitude of different health insurers.