The pediatric department of Montluçon hospital (Allier) is now operating in a reduced way, but young patients have come very close to having to go for treatment much further away.
The last doctor in charge of the pole left the establishment on November 1, making the closure of the service inevitable, says France 3 Auvergne Rhône-Alpes.
However, nothing happened.
The territorial hospital group has set up an organization allowing continuity of care.
Two doctors from Clermont-Ferrand (Puy-de-Dôme) make the trip every day.
Their presence made it possible to keep eight pediatric beds open at the Montluçon hospital, i.e. a third of the initial reception capacity.
The places are all occupied.
Patients should call 15 to be referred to the hospital or a town doctor.
Without the maintenance of the service, 150,000 inhabitants would have found themselves in a pediatric medical desert.
Every day, "we welcome at least one child in a situation where we wonder how it would have happened if he had had to travel 100 km more", explained Étienne Merlin, head of the woman-child unit at the CHU de Clermont- Ferrand.
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Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
Auvergne
Hospital
Medical Deserts
Chu
Doctor