The Nievre sorely lacking in caregivers and is a medical desert French. In response, the first “Flying Doctors”, from Dijon by plane, landed this Thursday in Nevers, despite the criticism on environmental impact. Eight doctors arrived shortly before 9 a.m. in Nevers, before joining the hospital in the city, capital of Nièvre (200,000 inhabitants). They must return to Dijon the same evening.
This “air bridge” aims to connect Nevers once a week to the regional capital Dijon in thirty-five minutes, compared to nearly three hours by car or two and a quarter hours by train. “The plane is the best way to shorten the delays” while the Nevers hospital is, in France, “ the hospital department farthest from a CHU ”, the University Hospital Center of Dijon where doctors can be available, explained Denis Thuriot, LREM mayor of Nevers and president of the Hospital Center (CH) of Nevers.
A general practitioner for more than 2,000 patients
The “Flying Doctors” are pulmonologists, oncologists or other gynecologists intended for the CH who are missing “about fifty doctors and at least 35 nurses”, according to Patrick Bertrand, president of the Medical Commission of the Hospital Center. But the small eight-seater aircraft also carried two general practitioners from SOS doctors. “We are going to set up a structure”, currently non-existent in Nièvre, said Doctor Romain Thévenoud.
With a general practitioner for more than 2,000 patients, against 854 at the national level, “15 to 20% of patients have no attending physician” in the Nievreaccording to Thierry Lemoine, president of the Departmental Council of the Order of Physicians.
The anger of environmentalists
The airlift has a cost but it will in fact “save”, assures Denis Thuriot. “It costs 670 euros round trip per passenger”, while an interim doctor can ask for up to “3,000 euros a day”, calculates the mayor.
The measure, however, aroused strong criticism from Nivernais ecologists. “A plane trip emits 1,500 times more greenhouse gases than by train”, accuses Sylvie Dupart-Muzerelle, municipal councilor EELV de Nevers, who denounces “a publicity stunt at a time when theEurope validates the abolition of domestic flights in France when there is an alternative by train in less than 2h30”. However, this measure does not apply to private flights such as the one Dijon-Nevers.
