“It had to happen, even if we did not think that Switzerland would be affected so quickly and so strongly,” said Vincent Ribordy on Monday in an interview with the Leman daily.
In the eyes of the doctor, Martigny is a concrete consequence of the shortage of qualified personnel in the emergency sector. A known problem for several years. “We thought that the capacity of this system was limitless, but this is not the case, he assures us. It will become necessary to use emergencies properly or risk leading them to bankruptcy”.
For Mr. Ribordy, alternatives must be found in order to unclog the emergency rooms currently used as the main interface with the population. “But all this will not work as long as there is a shortage of primary care doctors,” he warns.
And quota systems don’t help. “To contemplate this shortage while maintaining the regulatory mechanisms through quotas, numerus clausus, etc., it is an incomprehensible attitude on the part of our authorities”, argues the head of emergencies at the Friborg hospital, who also denounces a lack of recognition of the profession.
