The Ganges maternity hospital should reopen in 2025

The Regional Health Agency (ARS) Occitanie and the Cap Santé group confirmed on Tuesday the creation of a new maternity hospital in Ganges. In this rural area at the foot of the Cévennes, the previous maternity hospital closed its doors (its activity is officially suspended) on December 17, 2022. Over the next two years, mothers will have to give birth at least one hour’s drive from their home, at Montpellier or Nimes. Even much more for deliveries taking place during office hours when the entrances to the city are congested. Or for families living outside Ganges.

The new maternity is due to open in 2025, in a brand new polyclinic of 14,000 m2. The establishment will include consultation, maternity, imaging, biology and dialysis. On the other hand, there was no question of the emergencies which are insured in the current St. Louis Clinic. The project should cost 35 million euros. The State has undertaken to finance almost a third (11 million euros), which was the prerequisite for the green light for this work. But in return, he would have imposed the presence of a maternity ward in the establishment.

Difficulty recruiting obstetrician-gynecologists

To justify the closure of the previous maternity hospital, Cap Santé officials mentioned the difficulties in recruiting obstetrician-gynecologists in this landlocked territory. “Whether in the private or the public sector, it is difficult to recruit, underlines Lamine Gharbi, president of the Cap Santé group. We hope that with these new premises and good working conditions, this will make young doctors want to get involved and settle in the area”. The Cap Santé group has twelve establishments, including four clinics, but also nursing homes and followingcare and rehabilitation centres.

Until 2025, the ARS proposes the creation of a local perinatal center in Ganges. The establishment must support pregnant women during pregnancy and mothers following childbirth. A project that takes time to see the light of day and which questions the inhabitants, not really convinced of its usefulness. “We are afraid that this is an argument to pass the pill of the closure and that it is an empty shell”, worries Héloïse Pendino, spokesperson for the collective Maternity to defend.