In the Nièvre, south of Paris, more than 20% of the inhabitants cannot go to the doctor if necessary. To remedy this, the town hall of Nevers has launched an airlift: round trips Dijon-Nevers for the day to transport doctors whose specialty is under-represented, or even absent.
Welcomed with open arms, the eight doctors who inaugurated the new air link – an operation called “Flying Doctors” – will allow, at least one day a week, the Nevers hospital center to breathe. ” We are overdue on neurology, on pulmonology, on emergencies, enumeratesJean-François Segovia, director of the hospital. We have a medical density of 68 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants, when it is double on average in France and quadruple in Paris. Dijon will bring us a breath of fresh air. We think that we will be able to develop the device for a care offer worthy of the 21st century. »
A theft like this costs the hospital center more than 5,000 euros. A sum that remains below the cost of hiring “mercenary” doctors, as we call these temporary workers who are called upon punctually. But the environmental cost of this 45-minute flight is pointed out by the citizens of Nivernais.
Find doctors
For Philippe Cordier, the deputy mayor in charge of health, and ophthalmologist by training, the question does not arise. ” Thirty patients who go to Dijon for a dermatology or rheumatology consultation represent the flight which landed this morning. Our problem is to find general practitioners and specialists who come to settle permanently in the Nièvre… This is a solution that does not have to be permanent. But it’s a solution. »
Priority to patient health. This is what prompted surgeon Alice Brie to embark. But she understands that young doctors like her are rare in Nevers. ” We are looking for a city closest to our friends, our family life, important infrastructures such as school, high schools, etc. In Dijon, there is practically everything, she justifies. We have a lot of elderly patients in particular and not necessarily “movable”. So if we can come and see them, that’s good. »
The line could accommodate other passengers than doctors, especially in the months to come. Because no train will run for almost seven months between Nevers and Dijon. The railway, too, is suffering.