Melun: will the SOS Médecins branch have to leave Almont?

SOS Doctors would risk leave from Melun (Seine-et-Manre)? It’s a worry what raised Kadir Mebarek (Horizons), the mayor of Melun, during the municipal Council last May. He submitted to the vote a grant application to the State in order to renovate the Almont premises. A subject that revives debates around medical desert.

A risk of departure

It’s’a very serious tone that Kadir Mebarek, mayor of Melun, mentioned in the municipal council the vote on a request for a subsidy from the State for the work on the premises of SOS Médecins. “We know, there is a competition of territories on reception of doctors. Some communities look forward to SOS Médecins so that they come and join them,” he explained.

It is indeed a association which brings together many doctors in the same neighborhood. ” We have 15 doctors installed“, even specifies Sébastien Chopin, president of SOS Médecins Brie Sénart Melun Fontainebleau (BSMF), but also vice-president of SOS Médecins France.

And grant project which obtains the approval of several members of the opposition who recognize a project “ eminently important and useful« .

Faced with this alert, the president of the local branch confirms the mayor’s approach: “We have been contacted by several municipalities. Everyone dreams of having SOS Médecins in their home,” he says.

They made us bridges of gold!

However, the decision was not the most obvious, despite proposals for “premises with advantageous rents“. Sébastien Chopin adds: “We have no no desire to leave this neighborhoodunless we are there constrained. »

And this constraint results in the emergency of a expansion of current premises. He deplores premises which are no longer suitable: lack of ventilationlack of space and absence soundproofing… “All this can have a impact on the relationship with patients, but also doctors who work here,” he says.

SOS Médecins little supported by the ARS?

But why is it the town hall that must take action today with the State? Has nothing been planned to support the association? No, and to the great disappointment of Sébastien Chopin!

After their installation at the Almont in 2016they gradually opened up the number of additional appointments” sometimes at the request of the ARS“, he insists. “Today, we complete the lack of doctors with some emergency missions and of permanence of care. And when we ask the ARS for help, we don’t get no more response. »

He appears frustrated. Present for 58 years among the French, SOS Médecins is an association which has neither the status of a multidisciplinary health center (MSP) nor a medical center on call (MMG), which ” excludes subsidy boxes directly marked by the ARS”.

The association explains that it took charge of many expenses to be able to set up in Melun and practice in the best conditions. This would be around 375,000 euros of work already carried out, to which we would have to add 200,000 euros linked to the purchase of the walls. An amount that SOS Médecins no longer wishes to grow without support.

“In October, we asked for a quote: changing the windows, tearing down the partitions… The work, estimated by the company BGS Construction, amounted to 163,527 euros. Even if we wait for a financial supportwe will still contribute to part of this sum,” says Sébastien Chopin.

The last fuse

If SOS Médecins also has a branch in Brie-Comte-Robert and another in Fontainebleau, that of Almont remains by far the most popular. ” THE time ranges are very wide. We can go up to 220 patients per day. We make 10% home visits for the heaviest cases,” calculates the president of the local branch.

He attests that some patients come from Nangis, Provins or even Nemours. But this massive support is achieved thanks to the determination of the professionals present on site.

” We are a fuse between city ​​medicine and emergencies. We regulate calls using our switchboard connected to the Samu, we give first aid and provide guidance. Without us, the EMERGENCIES are likely to be even more saturated“, continues the manager.

A lack of doctors, population increase and an request for care that exploded. This is the bitter observation made by the vice-president of SOS Médecins France.

At a time when there are no more doctors, we are on deck.

And the situation is not not getting better : the neighboring medical center, which was in a delicate situation last year, has not yet redressed the situation. ” A new doctor must leave retired. The situation continues to deteriorate. The risk of closure still exists,” says Melun town hall. A risque who could burden the patient from SOS Médecins.

Nevertheless, a first twist could intervene. The town hall then announced The Republic of Seine-et-Marne : “We have recently known that the State is in favor of this subsidyeven if this will not be done within the framework of the DPV (Political allocation of the city, editor’s note). The city will pay this subsidy in all cases, regardless of the State’s participation. »

Perhaps the formation of the fruit born after “ a year of negotiations“, concludes Sébastien Chopin.

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