The association of users and friends of the Montauban hospital center held its general meeting under the chairmanship of Maurice Souleil. The question of the new hospital was at the heart of the debates. “We do not want the public hospital service to disappear from the heart of the city; why take all the public services out of downtown Montauban one by one? What is specific to this file is its opacity. Hospital staff , but also the population, were not consulted on a project which commits the future over several decades. As if this achievement could only be the business of the knowledgeable”, regretted the participants.
many questions
The vagueness persists on the number of beds planned: “We talked about going from 350 beds to 500, now we are talking about going from 300 beds to 400, or even 450. But will we have an authorization to open new beds? That seems unlikely, because the policy of successive governments has been to close beds: 80,000 in 20 years, 5,700 in 2020 alone,” they continued.
The private part remains. “The president of the establishment’s medical commission does not consider it necessary to create urology, nephrology and ENT services which are already provided by the private sector. What new needs will the new hospital meet? ” What is the future of cardiology? Of psychiatry already terribly damaged? Will we finally be able to be dialysis and undergo a coronagraphy within the public hospital? Will the private sector be established within this new hospital? If this hospital were to be built outside the city, what free public transport will be put in place to promote access for all, particularly the elderly and disabled?
On the financing side, “we are now talking about 350 million euros, financed up to 176 million by the State, 3 million by the Region. And the rest, knowing the chronic deficit of all the hospitals in France (10 million in Montauban)? Users want to be heard”.
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