06/16/2024
In Gard, attracting and retaining doctors is a challenge. Despite the efforts made, many municipalities are struggling to replace the retirements of their practitioners, further widening the medical deserts. An alarming situation which makes access to care a real issue for the department.
A glaring lack of general practitioners
According to the latest figures from the Order of Physicians, almost a third of Gard municipalities have no general practitioner in their territory. This observation is all the more worrying as the population ages and the need for local care continues to increase.
Difficult working conditions
Among the main reasons given, the conditions of exercise considered too restrictive in a rural department like Gard.
Geographical isolation, the heavy workload and the lack of attractiveness of remote areas put off young doctors who prefer big cities.
The financially unattractive fee-for-service payment and the difficulty in getting replacements are also major obstacles to the establishment of new general practitioners.
A glaring lack of resources
But the crux of the matter remains the glaring lack of resources allocated to community medicine.
Psychiatry is the poor relation of medicine in Gard, faced with the lack of reception structures for its patients. Faced with this worrying situation, local elected officials are calling for a real attractiveness plan to stem medical desertification. Installation aid, creation of multidisciplinary health centers, Gard must reinvent itself so as not to become a new medical desert.
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