German And French Doctors Strike

Several thousand German medical practices have staged a day of protest against drug budgets imposed under the health service reform. The panel doctors' federation, the KBV, distanced itself from the protest, which closed thousands of practices in several states, and said the budget savings were essential.

What seems to have caused the protest is that so many doctors have exceeded their drug budgets in routine prescribing of reimbursable drugs that they face very high repayment levels. Others said they were not opposed to health service economies but only to making the doctor-patient relationship an instrument of taxation. The KBV puts the 1996 budget at about 35 billion Deutschemarks ($23 billion), with an overshoot of 4 billion marks.

French Strike Call Meanwhile, the CSMF French doctors' organization has urged doctors to strike on December 18 to protest against the Juppe plan to reform the health service and social security. It also said it will hold a "day of contact and reflection with the public" in January to inform patients of the consequences of the Juppe economies.