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A recurrent debate in French politics is on how to address medically underserved areas (called medical deserts in France) where locals cannot find a general practitioner nearby and even less a specialist. This primarily impacts inhabitants from rural areas and from deprived suburbs. This is due to both a decreasing number of hospitals, the smallest ones being the first ones to vanish, and a general preference of (private practice) health professionals to work in larger cities. Most Western countries face the same issue, despite having hugely different health systems.
Last week, the Bayrou government was faced with a new Parliament proposal to address the issue by increasing the duration of medical studies by one year de facto spent in a medical desert. They suggested instead to have all health professional spend two working days per month in a deprived area. Which (obviously) led to a fiery debate between (cross-party, minus the extreme right) proponents and (professional) opponents of the scheme. I find it difficult to imagine how this can be implemented with any dose of efficiency, but observed fairly disingenuous arguments in the media (incl. Le Monde and Libé that I read every day). Namely that, since medical studies are supported by the French State, practitioners had a debt to said State and the society altogether. The argument is quite fallacious. First, almost all university cursus(es) are equally supported by the French State, be it a specialisation in paediatric surgery, or a PhD in medieval philosophy, or again a professional master in quantitative finance, in that the registration fees are symbolic. Why should there be more a debt for medical studies than for other fields?! Second, the “long and expensive years of training” mentioned in these papers include three to six residency years where residents are working full-time in hospitals and private practice, where they are essential components to get these hospital running, while and because being paid close to the minimum wage, hence much less than a regular doctor. With limited social protections against overtime, harassment, and night shifts… Not mentioning the resulting limited number of teaching hours per student when compared with other fields.
