Medical deserts: a plane to bring doctors from Dijon to Nevers
Faced with a glaring lack of doctors on its territory, the mayor of Nevers (Nièvre) decided to establish an air bridge between his city and Dijon (Côte-d’Or), in order to bring caregivers more easily to its administrators.
Between increasing its carbon footprint and undergoing medical desertification, the mayor of Nevers (Nièvre) has made his choice. To compensate for the lack of doctors, Denis Thuriot decided to send them by plane from Dijon, the regional capital. The first flight is scheduled for Thursday, January 26.
Since his election as mayor of Nevers in 2014, Denis Thuriot claims to have tried everything to bring doctors, nurses and interns to his hospital center. A boarding school for medical students was integrated, training for nurses was shared… in vain.
L’hospital de Nevers suffers from the distance that separates it from its reference university hospital, located in Dijon, but also from the lack of attractiveness of its territory. Result: the establishment today lacks about twenty doctors and ten nurses.
Some make the effort to come from Dijon to punctually replace the teams, but the 2h30 to 3h drive is generally dissuasive. The journey time is similar by train and this option is not more relevant anyway since due to repair works, the railway line depending from Dijon to Nevers is suspended until March 2024.
The ecological argument swept away
The hospital makes extensive use of temporary work, but it costs a “fortune”, 3.5 million euros each year, according to Denis Thuriot, who testified to France 3. According to his calculations, the rotation in planes costs less, with around 5,200 euros paid for a round trip. Not to mention that, by air, caregivers can connect Dijon and Nevers in just 35 minutes.
For the time being an 8-seater plane is mobilized, but the mayor does not rule out going upmarket if necessary. This idea of an airlift had already been put forward before “by the Georges-François Leclerc cancer center in Dijon”, before being “put under the carpet”, according to Denis Thuriot. The ecological cost of such a measure is a hindrance for many, but the city councilor does not want to hear about it.
“We have to stop” plane bashing “, he believes. I have traveled recently on a personal basis, I have never seen so many full planes. And between letting people die because they don’t do not have the right care and use an airplane, the choice is quickly made.
The CFDT representatives of the Nevers hospital are more measured, judging the idea “acceptable […] only in the short term”. According to them, this air link constitutes a one-off solution but it cannot solve the basic problem, that of the “management of health in France “.