Medical deserts: “No to coercion,” 900 medical students and doctors demonstrate in Bordeaux

Between 900 and 1,000 medical students and doctors demonstrated on Tuesday, March 29, against a proposed law introducing, for the first time, a restriction on setting up

Carbines , "but not lackeys!" warns one of the placards bristling along the long procession through the streets of Bordeaux, ending at the headquarters of the Regional Health Agency (ARS), on Tuesday, April 29. Between 900 and 1,000 people, mostly medical students, assisted by their senior doctors, marched against a proposed law aimed at regulating the distribution of doctors to reduce medical deserts in France.

Brought forward by Guillaume Garot, Socialist Party MP for Mayenne, this cross-party provision within the House of Commons introduces a restriction on installation for the first time. Its consideration is expected to resume on May 6.

"We study for ten years and our only freedom of life choice is taken away," fears Hélène, one of a small group of five "intern" students in their ^7th and ^8th years of medical school in La Rochelle and Poitiers. All of them are aiming for general medicine, including "in rural areas," but they can't imagine their destination being dictated by the administration. "It's a question of personal life," notes Pauline, "but also of networking and professional affinities" that emerge during internships.

The bill provides for a permit for doctors to set up practice issued by the ARS (Regional Health Agency). In underserved areas, this would be a given. Elsewhere, "that is, when the healthcare provision is at least sufficient," the text specifies , the permit would only be granted in the event of retirement. Today, 87% of French territory is classified as a medical desert and, another striking figure, 6 million inhabitants do not have a primary care physician.

On the steps of his restaurant on Rue d'Ornano, Jean-Baptiste watches this small crowd pass by: "When I see all these villages abandoned... It's certainly nicer to work in Arcachon than in Creuse, but I have the impression that we have no other choice but to force," he sighs. "But we can't regulate a shortage!" indignantly says Vonick Corvest, a general practitioner in his forties in the Pau area, megaphone in hand, also on the trip to Bordeaux. The Pyrénées-Atlantiques prefecture may not be classified as a "medical desert," "it takes a year to get an appointment with a gastroenterologist or dermatologist," he counters.

He points to the low number of doctors trained each year, the fault of this numerus clausus, the unlocking of which decided in 2019 will not take effect before the beginning of the next decade. "We are paying for thirty years of poorly managed policy," agrees Marie, one of the La Rochelle interns, and everyone has their share of responsibility, between the doctors' unions and the Health Insurance, which saw it as a way to limit health spending.

As recently as April 25, during a visit to Cantal, Prime Minister François Bayrou presented, among other things, an alternative to the proposed regulation law : general practitioners and specialists practicing in well-resourced areas would be called upon to contribute for a day or two in priority areas. "Not a good idea," says Clara, in ^ninth grade. "How is follow-up organized, and what will we do with our patients?"