“We know there is an emergency.
» Frédéric Valletoux (Horizons), long anticipated for this position, was appointed Minister Delegate in charge of Health and Prevention on February 8, 2024. Mayor of Fontainebleau for seventeen years, president of the French Hospital Federation for nine years , he made health his hobby horse.
Today, he considers medical deserts – which affect 85% of French territory – as “the No. 1 subject”.
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He himself is elected in one of the driest.
With a density of 89 general practitioners per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023, compared to 114 in 2012, Seine-et-Marne is the 100th of the 101 French departments in terms of concentration of general practitioners and the 96th in terms of caregivers.
“It’s a phenomenon that has been going on for years and is getting worse because of the widening age pyramid.
There is urgency but it takes ten years to train a general practitioner.
Not to mention those who leave the profession,” the minister is alarmed.
In mid-December 2023, the law that bears his name, proposed by MP Valletoux, was adopted by the National Assembly and the Senate.
It is based on the permanence of care, the combination of employment and retirement of doctors and financially encourages medical students to practice in deserted areas.
“Mayors fight every day”
Three months later, Minister Valletoux is staying the course, that of moderation and optimism.
He does not promise major reforms but draws from his field experience the weapons he intends to mobilize to try to make up for the shortcomings.
To give a political response, he highlights his experience as a local elected official.
“Mayors fight every day to find solutions.
Seine-et-Marne is a perfect example.
In Fontainebleau, we created the multidisciplinary university health center (MSPU).
A system linked to the university faculty of Créteil aimed at welcoming young medical students to Upec, by offering them an attractive structure.
It was duplicated in Coulommiers and Nemours,” explains the minister.
“Relieve doctors from administrative tasks”
A first local response.
However, one reality runs through all of these structures: the difficulty of finding doctors who settle there.
“We are moving in the right direction.
The revision of the
numerus clausus
makes it possible to accommodate 20% more students in the first year.
However, this solution cannot see immediate results due to the length of medical studies,” insists Frédéric Valletoux.
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He is firmly opposed to the assignment of young general practitioners to areas in tension, which he considers counterproductive: “The goal is not to scare away young graduates.
» To make the profession more attractive, he suggests improving the skills of certain professions: “The aim is to relieve doctors of administrative tasks which currently represent 20% of their time.
The Prime Minister announced the creation of more than 10,000 medical assistant positions by the end of 2024. We are currently at 6,000." In addition, nurses and pharmacists will be required to carry out tasks which will participate, according to him, to unclog the waiting rooms.