- Barbara Casassus, freelance journalist
- Paris, France
- barbara.casassus{at}icloud.com
France’s government, like many across Europe,1 is turning to non-European Union (EU) trained doctors to help offset the chronic shortage of hospital staff. On 30 January, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced to parliament that he would appoint an emissary to seek out doctors abroad wishing to practise in France and to encourage French doctors who qualified outside France to return home.
The announcement caused uproar. It showed “a lack of respect for the countries where these doctors were trained,” said Jean-Luc Dumas, director general of the Conference of Deans of French Language Faculties of Medicine. The targets will be doctors from French speaking former colonies and other countries where medical faculties have strived for decades to reach international standards and populations have “immense health needs,” Dumas said in an article in Le Monde on 8 February.
But the announcement also failed to tackle the status of non-EU doctors in France. Many have been practising in the country for years, yet a sizeable number have not passed the official exam required to work in the public sector.
Exams
Attal’s announcement followed the passing of a new French immigration and integration law. It was heavily contested in parliament and at the constitutional council but eventually came into force on 26 January.
In France, non-EU doctors wishing to practise in the public sector first have to pass the competitive medical exam (EVC), usually held in September to November each year. They then have to undergo a two year internship and pass an oral exam given by an authorisation committee of their specialty. This committee can then either award a pass or ask that a further internship …