Several municipalities in Nièvre have taken symbolic orders "forbidding" their residents from falling ill, in order to denounce the "catastrophic" situation in emergency services in this department known for being one of the worst medical deserts in France.
"It is strictly forbidden for any resident to fall ill, under penalty of not receiving any medical care due to the repeated closure of emergency services": the decree taken by the municipality of Decize is not lacking in humor.
However, the subject is "very serious", Justine Guyot, the PS mayor of this town of around 5,600 inhabitants, explained to AFP on Monday.
The emergency room at the hospital in the large town "has been put in degraded mode or even completely closed 24 times since March," she points out, including once when the emergency room at the hospital in Nevers, a 40-minute drive away, was also closed.
"There was no emergency service in the whole of Nievre," which has around 200,000 inhabitants, explains the mayor.
"I therefore wanted to make a statement" by taking this "ironic" decision on October 8, and sending it to all the municipalities of Nièvre.
Since then, "around twenty" mayors have copied it, like that of Montigny-aux-Amognes.
"The Nievre is a catastrophe," Christian Perceau, mayor of this village of less than 600 inhabitants, sums up for AFP.
"We have huge problems with the emergency services in Nevers. It is managed by the 15 in Dijon", the regional capital about 2.5 hours away by road, "but there are mistakes...", underlines the mayor, referring to the case of his aunt who was referred to a doctor in a nearby town because of a stomach ache.
"When she got there, she found the door closed: the GP had moved..."
The Nièvre has only 68 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants compared to an average of 121 in France. There is no dermatologist, only one rheumatologist, one allergist… and 20% of patients do not have a treating physician.
The situation is such that an "air bridge" was set up in January 2023 to bring from Dijon, at least once a week, a maximum of eight doctors to the Nevers hospital.
In March, a group of emergency doctors in Nevers warned that patient safety was "no longer guaranteed", with emergency services operating with six practitioners, when 27 would be needed.
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