Nièvre is sorely lacking in caregivers and is a French medical desert. In response, the first “Flying Doctors”, who came from Dijon by plane, landed this Thursday in Nevers, despite criticism of the environmental impact. Eight doctors arrived shortly before 9 a.m. in Nevers, before joining the hospital in the city, capital of Nièvre (200,000 inhabitants). They must return to Dijon the same evening.
This “air bridge” aims to connect Nevers once a week to the regional capital Dijon in thirty-five minutes, compared to nearly three hours by car or two and a quarter hours by train. “The plane is the best way to shorten delays” while the Nevers hospital is, in France, “the furthest departmental hospital from a CHU”, the Dijon University Hospital Center where doctors can be available, explained Denis Thuriot, LREM mayor of Nevers and president of the Hospital Center (CH) of Nevers.
A general practitioner for more than 2,000 patients
The “Flying Doctors” are pulmonologists, oncologists or other gynecologists intended for the CH who are missing “about fifty doctors and at least 35 nurses”, according to Patrick Bertrand, president of the Medical Commission of the Hospital Center. But the small eight-seater aircraft also carried two general practitioners from SOS doctors. “We are going to set up a structure”, currently non-existent in Nièvre, said Doctor Romain Thévenoud.
With a general practitioner for more than 2,000 patients, against 854 at the national level, “15 to 20% of patients have no attending physician” in Nièvre, according to Thierry Lemoine, president of the Departmental Council of the Order of Physicians.
The anger of environmentalists
The airlift has a cost but it will in fact “save”, assures Denis Thuriot. “It costs 670 euros round trip per passenger”, while an interim doctor can ask for up to “3,000 euros a day”, calculates the mayor.
The measure, however, aroused strong criticism from Nivernais ecologists. “A journey by plane emits 1,500 times more greenhouse gases than by train”, accuses Sylvie Dupart-Muzerelle, EELV municipal councilor of Nevers, who denounces “a publicity stunt at a time when Europe is validating the abolition of domestic flights in France when there is an alternative by train in less than 2h30”. However, this measure does not concern private flights such as Dijon-Nevers.