The Association of Citizens Against Medical Deserts (ACCDM) organized this Saturday, October 1st a public meeting in Évron on the lack of doctors in the Coëvrons. Indeed, this year alone, the municipality of Évron sees four of its doctors retiring, i.e. half of the professionals installed in the city. About sixty inhabitants of the Coëvrons therefore met to discuss it, share their concerns but also reflect together on the solutions to be brought to the problem.
When it’s our children, we want the follow-up to be done correctly.
Philippe came for his parents. He still has his doctor, but not them, although they are 89 and 90 years old. “I try to make them understand that they have lost a certain comfort, having a regular doctor like they had before and that’s a big problem.Maïté faces a more specific problem:lack of specialist. The young mother needs to have her asthmatic son take tests, but it is impossible to have an appointment in Mayenne, nor in Le Mans, Angers or even Rennes. “There, we are still talking about the health of a child, even if it is not vital, when it is our children, we want the follow-up to be done correctly. So it’s worrying for the future.“
The ACCDM therefore presented to the Évronnais the proposals it imagines to deal with this cruel lack of doctors: regulate the installation of doctors on the territoryto avoid having too many in areas that are already over-endowed (South-West and Côte d’Azur in particular), limit replacement time replacement doctors and add a year of internship for medical students, as the government is already proposing.
More than 50 deputies are working on a bill
The Évronnais also heard from their elected officials, present at this meeting: the deputies Yannick Favennec (Horizon group) and the socialist Guillaume Garot, as well as the mayor of Évron Joël Balandraud. The deputies wanted to be reassuring, they detailed their work in their transpartisan group: about fifty deputies from all parties (except the Rassemblement national) are drafting a bill on the regulation of doctors. “We must succeed in putting it on the agenda of the National Assembly“, they explain.
For his part, the mayor of Évron, Joël Balandraud, who came to represent the Department of Mayenne, wanted to be optimistic. He explains that the Department is currently funding the studies of two advanced practice nurses., qualified nurses to write prescriptions, for example. “They have agreed to work for five years in our department.“, specifies the aedile.