Thousands of doctors and other hospital workers marched through Paris yesterday to protest proposed cost-cutting reforms that critics say would focus the system too much on profit.

Unions called for strikes and about 30 marches were planned nationwide yesterday by nurses and doctors angry over a law under discussion in the Senate this week.

Abandon the law

The workers want the government to abandon the law, predicting it will lead to the loss of thousands of jobs.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy proposed measures earlier this week to soften the law but protesters say he did not go far enough.

"The only aim of the project is to make accounting savings by cutting jobs," said Andrei Grimaldi, head of the diabetes service at the Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital in Paris, who was leading the Paris march.

Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot, who championed the law, insisted yesterday that jobs were not at risk.

"I am the defender of public hospitals," she said on France-2 television. "I am giving large budgets to public hospitals during a very difficult period."

The government says the hospital law is needed to make the system more efficient and open it up to more private funding. It is also seeking to cut costs amid global economic downturn and as France faces its worst economic outlook in 30 years.

Opponents say the law would turn health care facilities into "business-hospitals" run by a CEO worried about costs instead of care.

Public and private hospital cooperation

The draft law foresees more cooperation between public and private hospitals, the closure of some small facilities and expanded service in some areas to respond better to current demographics. It would change the way interns and other personnel are assigned and how hospital management is appointed, a key sticking point.

The Paris protesters headed out from the Montparnasse train station towards the government headquarters. University students were expected to join the hospital protests. Student protesters have blocked or disrupted classes at universities nationwide in recent weeks over another reform championed by the conservative Sarkozy that concerns researchers.

The government says the hospital law is needed to make the system more efficient and open it up to more private funding.