'Save public hospitals', French health workers urge Macron

Thousands of French hospital workers demonstrated Thursday over years of cutbacks they say have harmed care in a country with a health system once the envy of the world.

Public hospitals in France have been forced to shave 9.0 billion euros (USD 9.9 billion) off their debts since 2005, leading to the scrapping of hundreds of beds and dozens of operating theatres while stagnant salaries have fuelled a flight to the private sector.

Calling on President Emmanuel Macron to "save public hospitals", thousands of hospital doctors, nurses, students and administrative staff held protests in Paris and a dozen other cities Thursday.

The protests began in March when emergency room staff, who complain of elderly patients being left for hours on trolleys in corridors while waiting for a bed, began strike action.

Over 260 emergency rooms nationwide are still affected by the work stoppages.

On Thursday, staff from other hospital departments joined in the protests.

In Paris, several thousand demonstrators marched through the city waving placards with message such as: "Exhausted caregivers = endangered patients", "Public hospitals in life-threatening emergency" and "The hospital is suffocating, let's save it."