The mayor of Nice is advocating for the possibility of training more medical interns in Nice. After a second request in April, he reiterates and sends a letter to the new Minister of Health.
In a letter sent on April 19th, Christian Estrosi expressed “his deepest concerns” to ministers François Braun and Sylvie Retailleau. While the University of Nice Côte d’Azur requested 245 medical intern positions for the year 2024, the Regional Health Agency PACA assigned it 199.
The cabinet reshuffle saw François Braun replaced by Aurélien Rousseau as Minister of Health and Prevention. Not having received a satisfactory response from his predecessor, Christian Estrosi decides to address the newly appointed minister in a letter dated July 24th. “While a positive evolution can be noted, the situation remains concerning and requires urgent action,” he writes.
Dijon and Poitiers train more interns than Nice
The mayor of Nice believes that his area is too poorly served compared to other cities in France. In three years, Nice gained nine positions while Nancy can boast of having 21 more, and Tours trains 45 more interns. “To date, only the faculties of Limoges and La Réunion train fewer interns than Nice,” he laments.
This is why he requests that the government reconsider the increase in the number of interns trained in Nice “by redefining the criteria for the allocation of intern positions at the national level.” The mayor believes that Nice is missing out on a coherent allocation due to several specific criteria of the territory that are not considered by the National Observatory of Demography of Health Professions (ONPS).
A specific demographic situation
Christian Estrosi explains: “In fact, the type of activity performed, the number of working days, the age (more than 30% of the doctors registered with the Medical Council in the Alpes-Maritimes are over 60 years old) are not taken into account. This heavily affects the appointment wait times which exceed 6 months for many specialties, and for some that are currently unable to take on new patients.”
“In the western part of the city of Nice, we have observed 13 retirements of general practitioners in 2022-2023 and at least 3 more starting in January 2024. New doctors are setting up privately, without participating in emergency and on-call duties. This density does not effectively meet the population’s needs,” he argues.
“According to the medical faculty, Nice has a historic deficit and should train 50% more interns,” shares the official. Perhaps the third time will be the charm. Christian Estrosi had sent a first unanswered letter in July 2022 before reiterating in April.
