Emmanuel Macron in the fight against medical deserts

Special envoy to Vendôme (Loir-et-Cher)

In red, a hand tagged a categorical message to Emmanuel Macron: "64 is no". Did he only see him at the entrance to Vendôme (Loir-et-Cher), on the road that led him to the city's university health center? For his third field visit since the promulgation of his very controversial pension law, this Tuesday, April 25, the Head of State once again tried to talk about something else. Despite the persistent noise of pans, drummed by several dozen opponents held behind an important security device.

Inside the establishment, the ringing is more muffled. In front of about twenty interns, doctors and elected officials seated in an arc, it is a question of medical deserts, the training of caregivers and the attractiveness of the profession. The President of the Republic does not come to list a series of announcements. He wants to promise to “continue what has been launched”, in the face of concerns relayed around him by professionals. “Attracting young people to us, warns Alain Aumaréchal, general practitioner, it is more complicated”.

"We have to give ourselves the means", asks Arnaud Dupont, physiotherapist. Yet another alert from Bernard Baudron, president of the council of the College of Physicians of the department: "In these areas of medical deserts, people's health is in danger." Accompanied by his Minister of Health, François Braun, the President listens and takes note.

Emmanuel Macron warned: in terms of health, as well as education and work, he wants "concrete results in the short term" to get his five-year term out of the stalemate. But he refuses “easy solutions”. While several elected officials, including in his camp, ask him to regulate the installation of doctors, he "does not believe" in this option. His credo remains “incentive”, “simplification” and “cooperation”, in order to “create a care offer” adapted “to the needs on the ground”. Present at his side, one of the supporters of constraint, the deputy (Renaissance) Christophe Marion, tries to save face: “The work and the fight continue.”

Against the shortage of doctors, the priority is elsewhere for the President of the Republic. He first wants to "encourage" future retirees to "not leave right away". He also intends to "save medical time" to give practitioners "more time in front of patients". This is why he wants to speed up the recruitment of medical assistants and the delegation of administrative acts.

Emmanuel Macron, however, did not expand on his method to "unclog" emergency rooms in hospitals by the end of next year - one of the objectives set during his televised address on April 17. He also did not go back on one of his controversial proposals: the introduction of sanctions to “empower” patients who do not honor their appointments. Charges its Prime Minister, Élisabeth Borne, to detail all the measures of the executive on Wednesday, during the presentation of its “roadmap”.

Weakened by record unpopularity, the head of state knows in advance that his record is not enough. Tuesday, the day after the first anniversary of his re-election, he recalled having abolished the numerus clausus and doubling the number of nursing homes, brought to 2,250 in France. However, in terms of care, "the whole country is being deficient", recognizes the president, citing the 600,000 to 700,000 chronically ill without a doctor. Proof, in his eyes, that the health system is “out of breath”, victim of an “endless crisis”. Didn't he promise to "rebuild" it, during his speech, announcing "one hundred days" to act "in the service of France"?

During this period, Emmanuel Macron aims to "reengage in public debate". “Here I am again!”, he launched Tuesday, concluding an exchange aside with journalists. Concrete application: in ten days he chained a speech, three trips, two interviews with regional dailies and Parisian. "I don't know if this will turn the page on pensions, but it shows that this is not the only issue", argues MP Christophe Marion. “Pensions are only 10% of my discussions with the inhabitants, far behind inflation and medical desertification!”

Emmanuel Macron, however, could not escape it on Tuesday, in Vendôme. Behind the windows of the nursing home, dozens of trade unionists occupied the tracks of the station, little frightened by the prefectural decree prohibiting demonstrations - it was suspended in the afternoon by the administrative court. After leaving the team of caregivers, the head of state summed up his desire to put this challenge in the background. "We must look at the heart of the subject and the life of our compatriots and not the decor," he insisted, before bypassing the crowd and returning to Paris.