The announcement was made by press release on Tuesday. The Saint-Junien maternity hospital had to close its doors for lack of personnel. In reality, a doctor went on sick leave, but no replacement gynecologist was available to replace him. In consultation with the Regional Health Agency, the Saint-Junien hospital therefore decided to close the maternity ward.
Since this Wednesday morning, the midwives on duty have therefore taken their phone to warn and inform the 230 to 300 patients of the maternity ward. “We called them all” explains Anne Lepichoux, healthcare manager at the Limoges Mother-Child Hospital. _“They were a little surprised, even stressed and, above all, they worry about knowing when it will reopen”_complete the midwife.
No worries about the reopening next Monday
“The reopening is scheduled for Monday, November 15 in the morning” responds categorically the deputy director of the hospital of Saint-Junien Stephane Scalabrino. He recalls that this closure is above all linked to an unforeseen event, and that in any case the maternity service is called into question in Saint-Junien. “Motherhood is not in danger” he says, “it occupies a primordial place in the territory, the only maternity hospital to occupy the west of the department of Haute-Vienne and the east of the department of Charente.” Example of this important place: a doctor has already signed his contract to reinforce the team made up of the two gynecologists present in Saint-Junien. He will take up his post very quickly. A position welcomed by the unions, in particular the CGT.
For the mayor Pierre Allard, it is necessary to “train more doctors” in France
This mishap nevertheless raises questions. While it reaffirms the importance of the place occupied by this maternity hospital in rural areas, it poses a difficult diagnosis of the way in which doctors are recruited in France. In any case, this is what Pierre Allard, the communist mayor of the town, thinks: “We are faced, as in all hospitals, with a shortage of specialists, since the CHU, with which we work side by side, has difficulty in providing a replacement doctor for our site “. The elected complete: “This temporary closure should question us so that a work stoppage does not undermine the structure. It also means training more doctors in our country.”
In the meantime, the only childbirth planned this week in Saint-Junien could take place at the Mother-Child hospital in Limoges by cesarean section. Emergencies remain possible in Limoges for the women followed at a respectable distance, like other hospitals in Charente.
–
