French health staff strike over budget cuts

Hospital staff throughout France staged massive demonstrations last Friday to protest against staff shortages and health budget restrictions imposed by the government. About 8000 doctors and other staff in Paris stopped work for three hours to attend rallies, and thousands marched through Rennes, Marseilles, Lyons, and a dozen other cities.

Demonstrators denounced the “rationing of health care,” first introduced by former right wing prime minister Alain Jupp in 1995 to reduce the growing deficit of the health …