Liberal doctors in the Center-Val de Loire region are up against their Regional Council. The latter is a candidate for selective agreement experiments.
To fight against medical deserts, elected officials have decided to raise the tone. The year 2016 was indeed marked by legislative proposals aimed at establishing selective agreements for liberal medical professionals. And with the approach of the end of year holidays, the threat returns for the practitioners. It is a very bad gift that the Center-Val de Loire region has decided to offer its health professionals.
The Regional Council announces its intention to request “the opening of a national debate on the selective agreement of doctors and henceforth to support the initiatives aiming to further restrict the exercise in deficient areas through the mechanisms of agreement”.
Worse still for these doctors attached to the freedom of installation, François Bonneau (PS), president of the region wants the six departments of his territory (Cher, Eure-et-Loir, Indre, Indre- et-Loire, Loir-et-Cher and Loiret) are “candidates for possible experiments in this area”.
The threat of liberal doctors
In a press release, the Regional Union of Health Professionals – Liberal Doctors of Center-Val de Loire specifies that the body took note “with concern” of the communication presented by its Regional Council on regional health policy.
Dr Raphaël Rogez, president of URPS-ML, sent a letter to the elected to indicate that if this is followed up, “it would have the dramatic consequence of reducing the number of new doctors installed. “.
The doctor underlines in this regard that numerous studies show “clearly” that restrictive measures – in this case threats of deconventing in the event of refusal to settle in a territory in which there is a shortage of doctors – have the opposite and catastrophic consequences. for regions suffering a drop in their medical demographics ”.
And Dr. Rogez to threaten the authorities in his region: “It goes without saying that, if the proposal (…) were to become reality, the liberal doctors of our region would mobilize to oppose it with the most great firmness ”. The unions of general medicine interns and young people installed and replacing the region (1) have indicated that they support this warning.
The debate on the fight against medical deserts remains in the air. Primary candidate of The Belle Alliance Populaire Benoît Hamon has already announced that he will not grant agreements to doctors who settle in overdotted areas. As a reminder, in 2015, the Order of Physicians (CNOM) listed 192 medical deserts in which nearly 2.5 million people live.
(1) GRACE-IMG and REAGJIR Center
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