Closed emergencies, saturated hospitals, services closing one after the other… For more than two years, the Lower Alpine medical profession has been in turmoil. However, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) wants to be reassuring: despite the many challenges that remain, some lights are turning green again.
“Without denying the difficulties that persist, we are seeing major developments in the major developments which are really likely to be optimistic about access to care in the coming years,” declared Bertrand Biju-Duval, departmental director of the ARS, during a press conference organized yesterday morning at its premises in Digne-les-Bains.
Access to care is stabilizing
If many Bas-Alpins (including the director of ARS 04) still cannot find a treating doctor, the arrivals of doctors have never been so numerous in the department, with 17 installations in 2023 – and almost as much in 2024 according to the ARS, which is waiting until the end of the year to complete its accounts.
Certainly, retirements are not slowing down, but “this is the first year where we have managed to balance departures“, greets Bertrand Biju-Duval. Another positive sign according to the ARS: the arrivals of interns in the department are increasing, with 38 interns welcomed in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence this year. “This is almost double what it was two years ago and it is essential since today's interns are tomorrow's doctors.“
