2023-05-14 04:00:00
There is a lack of general practitioners in Brussels and Wallonia. More than half of the municipalities are considered to be in shortage. In Wallonia, 1 GP out of 5 is forced to refuse patients. And it’s not likely to get better. It is estimated that within 10 years, 1 doctor out of 3 will stop his activities. Young people also work differently than the older generation. No more question of devoting his entire life to medicine. Meeting with two very different generations of GPs: Willy, 81, and Nabila and Leyla, 27 and 28.
Doctor Willy André opens the door to his office every morning. At 81, his passion for medicine remains intact. He still sees up to 60 patients a week.
Doctor since 1967
“I’ve been a doctor since 1967, it’s been 56 years… it keeps me in shape”he says with a smile.
In Lobbes, a town of 5,500 inhabitants, Willy André is the only doctor still in activity… So even if his practice gives the impression of going back in time, the shortage of doctors makes his activity still essential. In the next ten years, one in three practitioners will close their practice.
Doctor Leyla Yarol is therefore a rare pearl. Barely out of school, she has just moved to Colfontaine in the Borinage. With Nabila Henini, her promotion colleague, they opened a brand new center last October. This is proof that there is a lack of generalists, their agenda has filled up in a few months.
They will soon have to refuse patients.
Refuse patients to ensure proper care
“We are starting to try to stop, because otherwise we can no longer afford to see the patients who are already with us and that is not the idea, because otherwise they do not have good care”underlines Nabila Henini.
The installation of the two young graduates is a blessing for the inhabitants of the province. In Hainaut, one in four doctors refuses any new patient. The balance is difficult to find for Nabilla in view of the needs: between providing help and respecting what made her choose medicine.
“It’s the contact with the patients, being a bit like a full member of each family, it’s really more the social side that boosted me. That’s why having too many patients, which would not be possible to achieve this contact which I frankly find important”says the doctor.
I wouldn’t want to spend my whole life just working
In the Walloon Region, 137 municipalities are considered to be in shortage. It’s more than half.
In Lobbes, if doctor André continues… it is also for his patients, in particular Alice, 77 years old. She fell on her head and shoulder. “Normally, he can’t stop. We’ll tell him”, she said laughing. “You see, they forbid me”he replies.
If today the pace has decreased, Dr. André worked nearly 70 hours a week. Schedules and pressure that the younger generation no longer accepts. Having just settled in Colfontaine, Leyla wants to keep a private life, work a maximum of 40 hours a week, and no longer work following 6 p.m. “Before the doctor tended to give everything for his job and leave his family life aside a little bit. Now, medicine has evolved, the organization has evolved, I wouldn’t want to spend my whole life just working “she says.
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