French village strives to attract doctor with video pitch

A village in the west of France has made a video to attract a GP in a bid to avoid becoming a ‘medical desert’.

The 900 inhabitants of Puisseguin in Gironde spent €10,000 on a promotional video after the village doctor decided to move away at the end of the year.

Watch the village’s video:

Mayor Jean-Michel Pasquon was keen to vaunt the merits of the village:

“We have local shops that work: a delicatessen, a butcher, a restaurant, a pharmacy. It’s a nice, lively village with lots of associations and things to do,” he told Capital.

The village is also prepared to offer the new GP one year of rent-free accommodation.

Puisseguin’s previous doctor retired two years ago, and his replacement has decided to relocate 30km to the neighbouring village of Génissac.

What are medical deserts?

A medical desert is an area in which patients have trouble seeing a GP regularly, either because they cannot get an appointment, there are not enough doctors, or because they live too far away from their nearest GP surgery.

More than half of the GPs operating in rural areas are over 55 years old, the Association Des Maires Ruraux De France reports. Younger doctors tend to live and work in cities.

Read more: Seven questions about ‘medical deserts’ in France

While Gironde is one of the regions most affected by the lack of GPs, Puisseguin is relatively well served for medical care. There is a pharmacy in the village, a hospital 14km away and university hospital 44km in Bordeaux.

Read more: Map: Where are France’s medical deserts

“It’s a shame that we cannot attract a young doctor to the village, it’s sad,” one resident told TV5.

Puisseguin’s current doctor did not comment on the matter, however his assistant insisted that he is not abandoning his patients.

“He will still treat 95% of his patients from Génissac”, she told Capital.

Around 5.4 million people in France do not have a registered GP, figures from 2020 from the state health insurance system Assurance maladie show, almost half of whom are older and require regular treatment.

Related articles:

My experience of ‘medical deserts’ in rural France

France’s medical deserts ‘pushing more GPs to turn away new patients’

Seven questions about ‘medical deserts’ in France