French Hospital Demands Doctors Repay Bonuses, Foreign Medics Hit Hardest

Sandrine*, a doctor at the Jossigny and Coulommiers hospitals (Seine-et-Marne), is feeling dismayed after receiving, by registered mail with acknowledgement of receipt, a letter asking her to reimburse the bonuses paid by her employer, the Grand Hôpital d’Est Francilien (Ghef), which manages the hospitals in Meaux, Jossigny and Coulommiers. Being one of the doctors, including associate practitioners with diplomas from outside the European Union (PADHUE), recruited by the Ghef, which had set up a bonus to attract them in order to address the shortage of doctors in the department, she was receiving an additional allowance on top of her salary, as reported by Actu.fr.

Sandrine was a general practitioner in Morocco. She arrived in France two years ago. "I was the head of the emergency department in Morocco. I was paid 2,500 to 3,000 euros per month. In France, they offered me a salary of 4,000 euros. So I accepted, thinking that I was going to discover another healthcare system and discover Paris as well," she recounts. Upon her arrival, she worked consecutive shifts. Everything was going well until December 2024 when the 29-year-old woman received a notification informing her of the cessation of the bonus payment. "I go from a salary of 4,000 to 1,500 euros," she indignantly states.

In April, the Ghef sent her a registered letter and asked her to reimburse the "unduly received" bonuses over the past 24 months. In total, she has to repay 60,000 euros. "Ironically, I received the letter on April 1st. At first, I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, it was so unthinkable," she recalls. 49 other salaried doctors, spread across the three sites of the establishment, find themselves in the same situation. The hospital is demanding between 30,000 and 100,000 euros per practitioner, for a total of 2.7 million euros.

Sandrine is facing incomprehension and is suffering psychologically. "I have several colleagues who have taken sick leave. Personally, I can’t afford to do that. I feel betrayed. Many of my colleagues have thought about taking out a loan to repay this amount before realizing that we are not responsible for it." The young woman and her colleagues are turning to the CGT union to contest this decision. "I never negotiated my salary. They offered it to me, it was written in my employment contract. We worked for this money. It is the hospital that owes this money to the Public Treasury, not us."

30 foreign practitioners are among the 50 doctors affected by this request for reimbursement. Similarly, 80 foreign practitioners are among the 900 doctors practicing at the Ghef. "If all the foreign doctors left, a site like Coulommiers could close. This situation jeopardizes the healthcare offer for the people of Seine-et-Marne," says Catherine Dos Santos, deputy secretary of the CGT, staff representative at the Ghef, assigned to Jossigny. The doctors are waiting to receive the title of revenue from the Public Treasury to initiate legal proceedings.

This case is concerning parliamentarians. In correspondence addressed to the Deputy Minister of Health, Yannick Neuder, and more recently to the General Director of the Ghef, Jérôme Goeminne, two deputies from Seine-et-Marne, Ersilia Soudais (LFI) and Céline Thiébault-Martinez (PS), are demanding the cancellation of the requests for reimbursement of the bonuses paid to the doctors. "What person will be willing to work for a public employer if they are threatened with a request for reimbursement of bonuses included in a contract afterwards?" writes the Socialist deputy in her letter dated July 25, 2025 to the hospital management. A few weeks earlier, the LFI deputy "was outraged that the department of Seine-et-Marne was not among the medical deserts requiring reinforcements of healthcare professionals."

Contacted by La Marne, the management of the Ghef assures that it is only applying the laws in force. "In application of the law and in agreement with the medical authorities, all irregular pay elements have been stopped in several stages between September 2024 and March 2025. However, in application of the law, the Public Treasury is requesting that the practitioners concerned reimburse the sums they have received unduly."

*First name changed