The project of the mayor of Orléans and his health assistant Florent Montillot to train medical students in partnership with the University of Zagreb in Croatia did not cause so much debate, this Thursday, February 3 during the municipal council. This idea of creating a branch of the Croatian medical faculty in Orléans has provoked skeptical reactions since last week. even hostile in the universities and in the ministries concerned, who say they have not been informed of the project.
But this Thursday, February 3 in Orléans, the elected representatives of the majority and the opposition rather found themselves on the observation that something must be done, since the lack of doctors has become the main concern of Orleans residents. And that the faculties of medicine in France say themselves that they cannot accommodate more students than they already do (the dean of the faculty of medicine in Tours thus assured that he could not go beyond beyond the 300 students it trains).
“Kicking the Anthill”
Even if in the opposition, by the voice in particular of the socialist Baptiste Chapuis, who nevertheless sits within the health commission, they say they regret the secrecy that reigned around this partnership with Zagreb, even if we also evoke questions still unanswered in the realization of this projectwe do not reject the idea, or in any case we say to ourselves, like Sarah Benayad, “that it is necessary to kick in the anthill”.
From the ecological and solidarity list in 2020the elected opposition member testifies: “there is not a single elected official here who is not regularly questioned by the inhabitants of Orleans on the difficulties of access to care”. For her, what is problematic, “it is that a community is obliged to do in place of the State, because the idea of a medical school in Orleans, of a CHU, is a sea serpent”.
Mayor Serge Grouard says he is determined to go all the way
This project was not submitted to the vote of elected Orleans officials during the municipal council, but it was in fact mentioned at the turn of three important deliberations on health. And Serge Grouard, the mayor, welcomed a form of consensus which took shape during the long debate which followed the details provided by the two elected officials on the way in which the partnership with the University of Zagreb was built. Serge Grouard who says to himself “determined to see his project through to the end, despite all the difficulties, the obstacle course that we can see taking shape from people who are irresponsible, because we are talking about people’s health!”
During the municipal council, in any case, the three deliberations tending to respond to the lack of current doctors in the municipality, were adopted unanimously. This is the creation of an installation aid of 15,000 euros for new doctors. The creation, also, of a temporary municipal center next to the Madeleine Brès health center on the site of the former Madeleine hospital. This will see the departure of its last incumbent doctor in April. Two positions for salaried doctors will be created to provide consultations. In addition, the work of another municipal center, in the Blossières district, will soon be launched.