According to a study published by DREES this Friday, 3.8 million people lived in a medical desert in 2018.
The Department of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (DREES) has published its report on territories under-supplied with general practitioners for the year 2018. In total, 3.8 million people are concerned, i.e. 1.3 million more than in 2015.
A “small” part of the population
This increase is mainly due to the numerous departures of retired doctors. Departures that “that new installations do not compensate”adds the Drees, because of “the prolonged effect of numerus clausus” which have limited the number of trained practitioners in recent decades. However, the organization which depends on the Ministry of Health specifies that the part of the population which lives in a zone of medical desert is “weak”. A small part, therefore, but which passes “in four years, from 3.8% to 5.7%”.
The most affected territories are in the DOM TOM since Guyana, Martinique and Guadeloupe form the podium of medical under-density. “The situation is particularly degraded in Guyana”, specifies the Drees. The territory is marked with a “very strong population growth” where nearly half of the inhabitants (44.2%, or about 120,000 people) are concerned.
Inequalities are on the rise
In mainland France, Île-de-France and Centre-Val-de-Loire are the most affected. The Ile-de-France region also concentrates the largest number of people living in under-dense areas with 1.8 million, compared to 318,000 in Centre-Val-de-Loire. In these two regions,the number of general practitioners decreased by 4.2% and 5.8% respectively”, while population growth is positive. Among the largest increases in people facing medical under-density is Normandy. The proportion of its population concerned rose from 1.5% to 5.3% over the period. “A level now close to the national average”details the Drees.
“Inequalities are increasing between the least well-endowed municipalities and those who are the most well-endowed”, notes the DREES. “The territories best endowed with general practitioners are also the most attractive, both from the point of view of population growth and facilities (sports, cultural, commercial and educational)”she adds, pointing “a more global issue of land use planning”.
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