Arles (AFP)
"It was necessary to review the system of medical interim" but "they voted for this law without anticipating the consequences that it was going to have on the ground", explains to AFP a nursing assistant member of the Inter Urgences collective of the hospital Joseph Imbert, who wished to remain anonymous.
"If there are not enough doctors, it is dramatic for serious cases, there is really a loss of chance" to recover or to survive, he continues, recalling that the emergency department of Arles, which receives around 36,000 patients per year, works with 40% of temporary workers to fill vacant doctor positions.
"What is happening now is almost more serious than during the Covid", he adds.
Last Wednesday, a dozen emergency planning slots had not found a taker for the month of November and the deprogramming of operations was being considered, raising fears of a dramatic situation for the healthcare offer of the largest municipality in France, seven times larger than Paris.
In question: the will of the government to strictly apply the cap on the remuneration of temporary doctors to 1,170.04 euros gross maximum for a day of twenty-four hours, or about 900 euros net.
Currently, in great demand to fill staff shortages, these temporary workers, sometimes qualified as "mercenaries", can obtain up to 3,000 euros net from certain hospitals.
The measure was supposed to come into force on October 27 but was finally postponed at the last minute until next year.
"The area of Arles is huge with many isolated farmhouses", underlines another member of the Inter Urgences collective, also a nursing assistant.
"If there is no Mobile Emergency and Resuscitation Service (SMUR), in a vital emergency it is a disaster, especially since the liberal medicine next door is no longer present at night, you you only have the hospital, ”he adds.
Priesthood
From the site car park, only the LUMA Foundation tower, standing out against the gray sky, reminds us that the center of Arles is only three kilometers away.
The village of Salin-de-Giraud, in the town but on the borders of the Camargue, is 40 kilometers away.
"I had two strokes and I had a big problem with the lungs a year later. If I had been in Salin, it would have been a disaster," testifies Jeanne Diacomicoli, 62, a driving school instructor.
And a possible absence of SMUR makes fear worse.
In high demand to fill staff shortages, temporary workers, sometimes qualified as "mercenaries", can obtain up to 3,000 euros net from certain hospitals SEBASTIEN BOZON AFP / Archives
If in the immediate future, the threat of closing the emergencies and the SMUR of Arles recedes with the postponement of measures on the medical interim, the problem of the attractiveness of the public hospital remains unresolved.
"It's like a small bandage that you put on a hospitable wooden leg which is in major difficulty", even if "it can give a one-off boost until the holidays. Merry Christmas! But the next day is going to be a lot. less rosy ", estimates Philippe Valero, emergency doctor.
"To have four doctors permanently in the emergency room, you need almost twelve or fifteen in a team and that is what we do not have", deplores Laurent Donadille, the director of the hospital center.
Even if everyone agrees on the merits of the supervision of the medical interim, which has often led to an unhealthy escalation between establishments and strained budgets, it has become a luxury that the public hospital can hardly afford. pass.
"It's getting worse and worse to recruit, incumbents, even fixed-term contracts," confirms Anne-Marie Lesage, secretary of the CGT union.
"The damage is done", judge for his part Inter Urgences.
“It's not just an Arles problem, it's national. We are destroying the French health system. nothing, the government has learned no lesson ", laments the collective.
And to conclude: "Before, people fought to become hospital practitioners, now they no longer want to work in the public hospital because it's too hard, it's very poorly paid. You have to have faith" to do this. this job.
© 2021 AFP