Accueil " Chirurgiens de France."

NEWS scotsman Scottish news direct from Scotland 12/05/2005

(UK)
French Surgeons Return Home after Protest at Pontins

By Matt Adams, PA

A party of French surgeons who came to the UK on a four-day exile to protest over working conditions began returning home today.

More than 300 surgeons travelled by Eurostar to the unlikely venue of Pontins seaside resort at Camber Sands in East Sussex in a bid to put pressure on the French government to act.

The group, called Surgeons of France, postponed a similar planned protest last August after reaching a compensation package with government health chiefs in France.

But the group travelled to the English south coast to once again voice their anger over claims that the package has never been implemented.

Surgeons of France, which claims to represent 16,000 surgeons in private practice in France, brought its protest to the UK to beat a French law which allows police to force people back to work even during a strike.

Vascular surgeon Dr Jean-Luc Moreau, based in the Alps near Geneva, today told the Press Association that the trip to Camber had been a success.

“We do not know yet exactly how successful it has been but we have had lots of interviews with the British media, and some French, which we hope will put pressure on our Government,” he said.

“We reached a nine-point agreement with the French government last year which covered issues such as wage rises and night duties payments, but it has not been signed.

“We hope that we will know if it will be signed by the beginning of June.”

Dr Moreau said some of the protesters were leaving Camber tonight while others planned to travel home tomorrow morning.

On their arrival in the UK, the surgeons were surprised to be greeted by the British press, French news agency AFP said.

Professor Jacques Chameaud, a gynaecologist and surgeon from the south western French city of Limoges, said: “I think that the English are astonished to see French doctors arrive when our health system is supposed to be a model for Europe.

“What is true is that the English system is becoming more and more attractive for French medics because it is changing and being reformed.”