More students to tackle GP shortage

THE NUMBER of students joining medicine courses is to rise next year, in an attempt to solve the problem of GP shortages in various parts of France.

Student numbers have been capped at 7,700 for the past three years. Health minister Xavier Bertrand told Europe 1 that this would increase slightly to 8,000 in 2012.

The number of people being trained in medicine peaked at 8,500 a year in the early 1970s. At its lowest point, in the mid-1990s, only 3,500 medicine students graduated each year, and the figure has risen steadily since.

France needs to train more doctors now because a large number of practising GPs are forecast to be retiring in the next five years.

The doctor shortage does not apply to the whole country, but in pockets such as Picardie, Haute-Normandie and Poitou-Charentes.

Mr Bertrand said increasing the number of students would not "solve all the problems" but should make a significant contribution.

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