Caroline Baudry, edited by Gauthier Delomez 06:08, October 24, 2022

Faced with a cruel lack of health professionals, New Caledonia offers 50,000 euros in installation bonus to liberal doctors who would put their suitcases in the Southern Province of the archipelago, located 17,000 kilometers from France.

In return, doctors must commit to working there for three years.

For the first time in its history, New Caledonia, a French territory in the South Pacific, is seeing its population drop, in particular due to departures due to institutional instability and the Covid crisis.

There is a lack of manpower, the island is turning into a medical desert and the shortage of doctors is considered "dangerous" in the local media.

Faced with this situation, the most populated region, the Southern Province, is pulling out all the stops and launching a scheme to attract young doctors.

It offers them an installation bonus of 50,000 euros.

A video worthy of a tourist promotion

A video worthy of a tourist promotion will be broadcast in the coming weeks to young metropolis medical graduates.

"With its mild and warm temperatures all year round, the territory enjoys a tropical climate", boasts the voice-over.

The images scroll by: the turquoise lagoon, schools of dolphins, the multicolored corals of the seabed…, accompanied by testimonies from young doctors based in the archipelago.

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"I arrived for six months, and then I've been here for five years!" Says one of them in the video.

A premium paid in three instalments

In total, 6 million Pacific francs, the equivalent of 50,000 euros in premium, will be paid to those who come to settle as a liberal.

This premium will be paid in three instalments: on installation, at 18 months and then at 36 months.

Enough to largely cover the installation costs, promises Nicolas Pannier, the secretary general of the South Province in New Caledonia.

There is one general practitioner per 2,000 inhabitants, three times less than the national average.

“The idea is also to enter into a somewhat incentive logic”, he admits at the microphone of Europe 1. “We experienced a somewhat particular Covid crisis, as we are an island, we closed the territory for more than 18 months. We were a little locked up", says the secretary general, who assures that "some professionals in mainland France have been taken away from their families. So they felt the need to return to mainland France. That's why we want to attract new doctors again."

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Commit to working for three years in the South Province

The doctor must agree to work for three years in the South Province, in areas in tension, at least 32 hours a week and take part in on-call shifts.

Nicolas Pannier hopes that the device will be adopted in Province Nord, where only eight out of 30 doctor's positions are filled.

A similar bonus has been offered in the less covered territories of France since 2016. The results in mainland France were however deemed "disappointing" in a report by Dress, the statistical service of social ministries.