Last Friday, on the proposal of Frank Vandenbroucke, federal Minister for Health, the Council of Ministers approved two draft decrees at first reading.

One of these decrees, concerning INAMI numbers and the training of doctors, raises questions. The French Community could be issued, in 2027, not 505 but 555 INAMI numbers on two conditions: – that these 50 additional numbers are intended to strengthen the general line – and above all, that Francophones set up an entrance examination in medicine like Flanders, and no longer an entrance exam. In other words, the Francophone student will have to pass the entrance exam and be ranked in useful order to hope to begin his medical studies. However, the health crisis has highlighted the shortcomings of our health system and more particularly the need to alleviate the shortage of doctors, but also to upgrade the medical professions. Recently, this problem was raised by the demands of junior doctors who denounced their unsustainable working conditions and a still unsatisfactory social agreement. Furthermore, the desire to further restrict access to the profession of doctor is totally incomprehensible in this context of the shortage of doctors, the ageing of the population and the exhaustion of nursing staff. In our system, it is up to the federal authorities to set the quotas. The way in which these quotas are to be achieved, and therefore the decision to introduce an entrance examination, falls within Community competence. In view of these elements, Sophie Rohonyi, Federal Deputy and Michaël Vossaert, Member of Parliament for the FWB, respectively questioned the Minister of Public Health Franck Vandenbroucke and the Minister of Higher Education Valérie Glatigny about the federal government's decision to assign additional INAMI numbers to the FWB subject to the introduction of a competition at the entrance of medical studies instead of the entrance examination. For DéFI, this modest quota increase is nonsense, as it is insufficient to meet the current shortage. Indeed, the difficult working conditions of assistant doctors will deteriorate further with the decrease in the number of medical graduates and the increase in the workload. For its part, the Inter-University Committee of Medical Students (CIUM) asks the Government to review its position on the subject and to take into account the situation on the ground and the deterioration of health care in Belgique.La current shortage is not so much a community problem as a national problem. It is therefore essential to recognise it and to do everything possible to get out of it. For DéFI, this means a clear increase in the number of trained doctors.