A French government decision to admit some medical staff from outside the European Union won't apply to French Polynesia.
Photo: Andrey Popov 123RF
The move was aimed at overcoming staff shortages by hiring personnel from Cuba.
The decree approved by the French prime minister Edouard Philippe would allow doctors, dentists, pharmacists and midwives from non-EU countries to work only in the French territories in the Americas.
It only applied to Guyana, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Saint-Martin and Saint-Barthelemy and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon, which is off Canada.
The concession was made after politicians in several territories, including French Polynesia's Oscar Temaru, asked for physicians from Cuba to be admitted.
Cuban doctors have been deployed world-wide, with some of those sent to Pacific Island countries getting English language tuition in New Zealand.