Medical desert announced in Mios: a patient testifies

Following the testimony of Doctor Jean-Claude Carminati, one of the last doctors in Mios to retire and whose practice is closing due to a lack of successors, one of his 82-year-old patients shares his dismay.

In our May 10th edition, we interviewed Dr. Jean-Claude Carminati, one of the last remaining physicians in Mios. At 70, he and his partner are retiring and will have to close their practice due to a lack of successors.

After reading our article, André Massard, one of his patients, wanted to respond. "Since 1985, my wife and I have had Dr. Carminati as our primary care physician. He has served a true calling, and we thank him for his dedication to our family. We wish him a happy retirement; he has well-deserved it after forty years of practicing a true vocation."

And to lament: "Today, we still haven't found a new GP, neither in Salles nor in Biganos, let alone Mios, where there will only be one doctor left for 13,000 inhabitants, whereas two would be needed to replace him. On the other hand, we have a very wide choice in paramedical and well-being..."

André Massard, 82, says he has Parkinson's disease, while his wife suffers from heart and neurological problems. Both are classified as "long-term conditions."

"France funds NGOs like Doctors of the World and Doctors Without Borders for their work abroad, while on French soil, in a town of 13,000 inhabitants, there will only be one doctor left? Before, to set up, a young doctor had to buy out a colleague's patient base; today, they have to pay them. There's a real, unhealthy bidding war in the face of shortages."

Denouncing the "absurd zoning and the ostrich policy of the ARS (Regional Health Agency)", André Massard deplores the "relentlessness towards retirees".

"One day, I won't be able to drive anymore. Will we have to resort to medical transport to go to consultations? Fortunately, our grocer and our butcher deliver to our homes. On the one hand, we say we want the elderly to stay at home; on the other, we do everything we can to prevent them from doing so. On the other hand, we finance nursing homes for the great joy of pension funds. So what do we have left? Our eyes to cry with."