Hundreds of foreign doctors go on hunger strike in France

Hundreds of medical staff with non-EU diplomas have started a three-day hunger strike in France to protest against how they are being treated.

French media reported that around 300 people are taking part in the strike action, which aims to win the "padhue" — the acronym by which this group is known — greater protection.

"We find ourselves in an unacceptably precarious situation," Abdelhalim Bensaïdi, a striking diabetes specialist who works at Nanterre Hospital in the suburbs of Paris told the public radio station France Inter.

Some "padhue" are estimated to earn roughly times three time as little as their peers who have a European diploma.

They often lack guarantees that they will be able to remain on French territory as their contracts are renewed every six months.

A year ago, French President Emmanuel Macron recognised that the situation was untenable, stating that "in some cases they are holding our health care services together, while we leave them in a precarious administrative situation".

His government pledged to reform these workers' status, in part driven by a desire to fill medical vacancies across swathes of the country.

The union which supports this group of workers has announced that a demonstration will be held outside the French Ministry of Health in Paris on Saturday.