Tribune. The Centre-Val de Loire region has many advantages. Nevertheless, it has one weakness and one anomaly, both of which relate to the same vital subject, that of health. The weak point: a medical desertification that is constantly increasing and ranks it last nationally, with only 97.9 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, while the average in France is 123.8 doctors.
Worse, Loiret, one of the six departments in the region, has 63.7 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants. This means concretely that today 150,000 inhabitants of Loiret do not have access to an attending physician.
The anomaly now: the region has only one medical school on its territory, in Tours, while all regions in France have at least two. This is the case, for example, of regions such as Normandy and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, comparable in size to that of the Central Loire Valley. Thus, Orléans, the regional capital, has no UHC, a heresy that successive mayors of the city have been fighting against for more than thirty years. Always in vain.
Consequences: the medical faculty of Tours trains 300 doctors every year, and does not have the human resources to train more, while the needs are at least 500 per year. Year after year, the medical desert is therefore gaining ground funestly.
Is it necessary to be satisfied with this hellish situation when it is a question of life and death? The answer is no, of course. So, as the mayor of the city, I decided to take action and look for concrete solutions. On January 21, we signed an agreement with the Faculty of public medicine in Zagreb, the Croatian capital. It anticipates that 50 French students will benefit, from the beginning of September, from the courses taught by this faculty of medicine, recognized for the excellence of its curriculum and labeled “high quality”.
In return for a scholarship allocated to students according to their resources, they will commit to work for at least five years in Orléans at the end of their studies. Everyone benefits, starting with our fellow citizens who are in great distress, which today borders on precariousness when it comes to health.
“We have taken our responsibilities”
There the rise of shields was not long in coming. Untruths and lawsuits of intent immediately blossomed. Discounted studies, unrecognized diplomas, discipline not taught, selection by money, etc., everything was written to discredit this protocol even before its implementation.
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