Like 15 days ago in Dolus-le-Sec, anti-vaccines (around 150) mobilized to demonstrate this Thursday afternoon in front of the town hall of Chambourg-sur-Indre to say no to the closure of the only medical office in this town of 1,400 inhabitants and support the general practitioner who risks suspension because not vaccinated against Covid-19.
“I have nothing to do with it, it is the Regional Health Agency which is at the origin of the situation“explains this doctor who questions the very principle of the word vaccine. Amandine has recently been living in the town, she supports him:”I do not understand that we can suspend a doctor. I have three children including a baby, this doctor is the only one who has been willing to take me since I have lived here, I have the balls“.
In rural areas, the subject of vaccination for caregivers is much more sensitive because there is medical desertification. Tatiana runs the village grocery store: “In a sense he is right, there is a moment when we have to be heard but where are we going to go if there is no longer a doctor, knowing that there are three or four municipalities that are experiencing the same thing as Chambourg. … for a cold you will have to go to the emergency room?“asks Tatiana.
For his part, Yvon, another inhabitant of Chambourg-sur-Indre does not understand the doctor’s position: “When you’ve done nine or ten years of medicine, it’s an aberration to say that you don’t trust a vaccine. As for talking about the people who are gathered, I counted four or five who are from the commune, the rest are all the people of the refusal. We are not in a smart battle but in silliness “.
A situation that makes the medical community mobilize. An appeal to the doctors of the territory was launched in order to provide emergency consultation slots for the 2,000 to 2,500 inhabitants of the area.
Rather be cared for by someone with whom you take risks … or not treated at all?
Christophe Géniès is the vice-president of the Council of the Order of Physicians in Indre-et-Loire. He understands the concerns of the patients of this doctor from Chambourg-sur-Indre, and he is well aware of the problem of medical desertification. “There are many services to treat medical emergencies, but the monitoring of certain chronic pathologies will surely be a little out of date”, he admits. _ “_But does that mean that it is better to be cared for by someone you take risks with rather than not treated at all? It’s a difficult question, in ethical terms … we don’t have a solution. “
Because for Doctor Géniès, it is impossible for a practitioner to continue to receive patients if he is not vaccinated. “A doctor who does not respect the law or a certain code of medical ethics should not be allowed to practice”, he says. _ “_Imagine learning in a week that one, two, three people were infected by this doctor because he caught the virus because he was not vaccinated. How would the patients react? It is not admissible. “
The suspension pronounced against the 7 health practitioners is administrative because it comes from the Regional Health Agency. At its next meeting on November 17, the Council of the Order of Physicians will also be able to decide on a sanction, which could go as far as the prohibition to exercise.