How Lot-et-Garonne flirts with medical interns

Come to us, you’ll see, it’s nice, the weather is nice, there are charming hillsides and gourmet markets… True, but that’s not enough. Lot-et-Garonne seeks to attract doctors into its nets to stop the advance of the medical desert. How ? “By organizing and creating personalized support for healthcare personnel and by removing the obstacles and difficulties in setting up professionals”, explains Annie Messina. This Wednesday, June 14 in the evening, at the Hôtel du Département, she receives medical interns on internship in Lot-et-Garonne.

The vice-president of the county council in charge of the elderly and medical demography is the best placed to open her arms wide to them and try to convince them to settle down as a doctor one day. She is a pediatrician and Lot-et-Garonne by adoption.
After a two-year hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the departmental council has relaunched, in partnership with the actors of the Departmental Commission for Medical Demography (CODDEM), its traditional reception evening for the doctors of tomorrow.

Currently, 87 interns of all specialties are doing their internship in Lot-et-Garonne, whether with a general practitioner, in a hospital environment or in maternal and child protection. The internship period takes place over 6 months, from the beginning of May to the end of October.

“The needy are those who live in rural areas”

They are here, they know it, in a land where access to care is degraded. 9 to 12% of the French population now lives in these areas where the supply of care is damaged, ie 6 to 8 million people. “The renunciation of care and the unacceptable and dramatic situation of loss of chances are now a reality experienced by a growing number of our fellow citizens”, announces Annie Messina to young people before reminding them of this passage from the Hippocratic oath: “I will give my caring for the needy”. She asserts in the process: “The needy, today, is the one who is in rural areas. I count on you “.

Around a well-stocked buffet and stands, interns were able to meet doctors from Lot-et-Garonne but also representatives of the various communities of municipalities in 47. -professional
as well as the status of salaried doctor”, explains Sébastien Ribero. However, the DGS of Fumel-Vallée du Lot remains convinced that these young people will return to their region of origin. “For people who are not from 47, we are not a department for a first job, notes Cécile Clément, HRD of Fumel-Vallée du Lot. On the other hand, later, when they feel the need to create their family and have a closer patient base, Lot-et-Garonne will remember them fondly”.

Finally, as Joris Jonon, director of the ARS, points out, it is neither the locality nor the remuneration which, in a hospital environment, makes the difference for young doctors but the meeting with a head of department.

“The main criterion of choice is the working atmosphere”, assures an intern

They are three around a table this Wednesday, June 14 in the evening, at the Hôtel du Département, where the departmental council receives interns of all specialties doing their internship in Lot-et-Garonne to try to convince them to come and practice here. . Two are from Lille, another from La Rochelle. They have been in the hospital for a month.

“The region is beautiful, one hour from Bordeaux, the people welcoming, there are things to do, I didn’t think I would like it so much,” smiles one. She is not closed to the idea of ​​one day joining Lot-et-Garonne. “In fact, she explains, the main selection criterion is the working atmosphere”. For La Rochelaise, the sea may be far away but, she assures us, “the course is renowned and the chefs benevolent”. Another advantage: “Emergency physicians, we can do more when we are in peripheral hospitals”.

A little further, a pediatric intern on an internship in Marmande warns: he will never come to Lot-et-Garonne. “It will be at home, in Bordeaux”. She has no intention of leaving her roots either. She went through the emergency room in Agen and with a general practitioner in Pont-du-Casse. “I feel very alone, I don’t have my family, not my friends. It is not viable in the long term even if the department is attractive. We are doctors but not only doctors. In Agen, even if the municipality makes efforts, it will never be Bordeaux ”.

One is Breton and the other Burgundian and the two are obviously a pair. The fruits, the landscape, the rugby, the atmosphere, the joie de vivre, they love it. So, yes, why not, they could settle in Lot-et-Garonne. “Maybe not full-time for my whole life, but we can do replacements for 5 years and go back to where we came from”.