The situation is particularly tense. While since October 2020, the pediatrics department of the Montluçon-Néris-les-Bains hospital center (Allier) already had only three doctors left, the establishment has just temporarily lost another one today.
Result: the service has only two full-time practitioners, even though the theoretical staff is seven.
Why are the caregivers of the mother/child center of the Montluçon hospital center (Allier) on strike?
Six months availability
“One of our doctors has gone on availability for six months,” confirms Bernadette Mallot, general manager of the establishment, who ensures that they are actively seeking new pediatricians. “We have leads… although I can’t say more at the moment. But all medical demography is devastated. »
“The problem is national. We knew a few years ago that the 2020s were going to be complicated… now we are there. »
bernadette mallot (hospital director)
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So for the time being, the hospital center must call on pediatricians coming as reinforcements, in particular from the Vichy hospital center and the Clermont-Ferrand university hospital.
“Temporary” measures
“We were also forced to take measures,” says the director. Starting with the closure of six hospital beds out of the twenty-four in the service. “It’s temporary”, assures Bernadette Mallot, who wishes to “relieve the pediatricians in post” the time to complete its workforce.
A press release for families was also published on Tuesday 25 January. A press release inviting them to first contact their attending physician, the on-call general practitioner (via 15), a city pediatrician or unscheduled consultations at the Saint-François private hospital. Recalling, however, that in “in the event of a vital emergency, the pediatric service is always accessible as well as for scheduled consultations”.
A worrying situation for the unions
Faced with this lack of doctors in the pediatrics department, the Force Ouvrière (FO) and CGT unions say they are “very worried” and explain this situation in different ways.
But Magali Souche, CGT delegate, and Catherine Dutheil, FO delegate, agree on one point: the difficulties encountered in the pediatric department are not new. “We have been sounding the alarm for a long time now,” says Magali Souche. “It had been brewing for a while,” confirms Catherine Dutheil, recalling the strike movement launched last April by the caregivers of the mother/child center.
“The situation is truly alarming. There are only two paediatricians left, which is well below what the service would require. Two pediatricians cannot do the job of seven doctors. Result: the hospital center is forced to close beds. »
magali stump (CGT delegate)
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” It’s dramatic. We ask patients, and children received, excluding vital emergencies of course, to go and see pediatricians in town or treating doctors as a priority. And we know the problems… There is a lack of general practitioners and very few pediatricians in town… Patients are therefore in difficulty. »The service now has only two full-time practitioners. Photo: Cécile Champagnat
What you need to know about the petition which has already gathered more than 26,000 signatures for the maintenance of the mother-child center in Montluçon (Allier)
“It’s the same problem everywhere”
And for Magali Souche, the Montluçonnaise situation is “the result of a national situation”. “This goes beyond the Montluçon area. The Government has done nothing to increase the numerus clausus, and we are now suffering the consequences. Montluçon doesn’t necessarily attract people, it’s true… but it’s the same problem everywhere. »
For Catherine Dutheil, this lack of pediatricians is a more local problem.
“The current situation is the result of a lack of dialogue between leaders and doctors. But this lack is not only at the level of doctors, it is at all levels, which leads to general frustration. »
catherine dutheil (FO delegate)
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She calls for more exchanges. “We must perpetuate the doctors, not scare them away. When the doctors ask to meet the leaders and we despise them, we end up with catastrophes. We need to re-establish the dialogue. Now, let’s hope that the leaders will manage to recruit some. And let’s hope that the doctors who have left will not give a bad image to the hospital centre. Because the situation cannot last. »
The radiology department of Montluçon hospital (Allier) will be idling until January 2022
Laura Morell
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