In Indre-et-Loire, doctors are employed by the Region to fight against medical deserts

The popular district of La Rabaterie in the town of Saint-Pierre-des-Corpslocated in the east of the metropolis of Tours, in Indre-et-Loire, has always suffered from a lack of doctors. Many residents were deprived of care. “My doctor left in December. We were told nothing” exclaims this worried patient. To compensate for this lack, the Centre-Val de Loire region has opened a regional health center which is accompanied by the arrival of three doctors directly employed by the local community.

Faced with the decline in the number of general practitioners in the city, Saint-Pierre-des-Corps wanted to actively contribute to the development of access to care for its inhabitants. “We want to go to these neighborhoods first because the inhabitants have less mobility than others and because it is sometimes in these neighborhoods that the number of doctors is the lowest” explains François Bonneau, President of the Centre-Val de Loire Regional Council.

Three doctors employed by the Region

This medical center will have 5 doctors for the 5,000 inhabitants of this priority district. Three young practitioners have already settled. All are employees of the Region. Doctor Pauline Michel-Bergeau embarked on the adventure. His appointment book is already full. But for this salaried generalist, the advantages of the structure are multiple “It’s only doing medical time in a structure that takes care of all the administrative work and working together with different doctors, from different backgrounds”.

This regional health center was created on the model of the center opened in 2021 in the Rives-du-Cher district of Tours, with doctors also employed by the Region. The medical density of the region Centre-Val de Loire is among the weakest in France, with an accentuated aging of the medical profession. Faced with this finding, the Region is thus mobilizing to meet the challenge of access to healthcare for all, with the hiring of 300 doctors by 2028 as part of the “My region 100% health” plan.