2023-12-24 08:54:00
The letter that the approximately 600 inhabitants of Île-aux-Moines (Morbihan) sent to Santa Claus boils down to just one request this year: a new doctor! If this wish is formulated in many communes in France, we did not think that it would be necessary to appeal to providence to grant it in this “true paradise on earth”, as the President rightly describes it. mayor (without label) Philippe Le Berigot.
In the heart of lush vegetation, the calm here is barely disturbed by the rattling of boat masts and the cries of seagulls. And in the maze of picturesque streets, typical granite houses sit alongside a school, shops, restaurants and even a nursing home which accommodates around twenty residents. In short, until this weekend, absolutely nothing was missing!
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But now, this Saturday, December 23, three years following taking up her post, the current doctor will put away her stethoscope and return to the continent. A leap of a few kilometers for her which leaves her patients in unprecedented distress, they who have always known a resident practitioner since the beginning of the 1970s. “I did not think I would have this problem to resolve before the end of my mandate », sighs the councilor, re-elected for the second time during the previous election.
Full-time presence on the island required
However, if it has been three months since this departure was announced, the candidates, this time, are not jostling each other despite the significant advantages offered by the municipality. She has in fact brought out the heavy artillery to convince a new white coat by providing free of charge a fully equipped office, an electric car and even accommodation with a sea view! In vain, for now…
READ ALSO The crazy demands of a doctor to settle in CotentinIt must be said that this postcard setting has a reverse side that is more difficult to understand for a general practitioner whose mission is a matter of true priesthood. Because the installation assistance provided by the regional health agency (ARS) is conditional on unfailing availability: the exercise is full-time, in the strict sense of the term. “The on-call obligations certainly constitute a very interesting additional income but, in return, they also require the doctor to be present on the island 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” explains the mayor. This system, which might be an incentive, is today an obstacle to the conception that many doctors have today of their practice, they who claim to be able to separate their personal life and their professional life. »
Apart from legal holidays, it is therefore impossible to visit relatives on the continent, even though they are very close by, as the maritime connection is interrupted following 7:30 p.m. (10 p.m. in high season) and does not resume until 7 a.m. the next day. Morning. “We are suffering from this breakdown in territorial continuity,” recognizes Philippe Le Bérigot, who understands the urgency of the situation.
The average age of residents exceeds 60 years
The average age of its citizens exceeds 60 years, the needs are as important for them as their capacity for movement is rather restricted. Because the island may only be a five-minute sail away, you still need to be able to be mobile on the continent followingwards. “There is a boat every half hour, it’s true, but once you are in Port-Blanc, you then have to go to Vannes or Auray to find a doctor, and without a car, how will the people ? Some are over 90 years old! » says Véronique, who lives year-round on this rock measuring just over 3 square kilometers.
Here, most residents travel by scooter, bicycle, or even on foot, for the slightest errand, including to Gilbert Baron’s pharmacy. Like everyone else, he too hopes that this new “golden medical desert where life is very pleasant” will quickly be filled and for good reason: the survival of his pharmacy is at stake!
If, in the immediate future, the now ex-doctor of the island has taken the lead by writing prescriptions that are renewable for two to three months, her successor is in any case eagerly awaited, if possible before the summer season when the population is multiplied by ten.
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