Guingamp: demonstration this Sunday to warn of the medical distress in the region

The visit of the Cuban ambassador to Guingamp in mid-February to save the local hospital with Caribbean doctors created a buzz. Today, no reinforcements have arrived, whether from Cuba or elsewhere, and the health system of Costa Ricans is still on hold. At the call of several unions, caregivers and local elected officials, a demonstration is organized this Sunday at 2 p.m. in Guingamp to challenge the public authorities on the medical distress in the region.

Shortage of caregivers

“Every two months we see in the newspapers mothers who gave birth on the road, with the help of firefighters, because they were unable to reach the Saint-Brieuc maternity ward.” Accompanied by the photo of relieved parents and smiling firefighters, it is the kind of event that the local press loves but not Philippe Le Goff, the mayor of Guingamp. “It hides a reality. Everyone says that we were able to miss the worst because we were not in medical security compared to that,” he says.

This medical security is sorely lacking: from general practitioners to specialists, there is a shortage of caregivers. Consequently, the result is clear, the structures operate in slow motion or close.

“We can’t even take care of ourselves properly anymore”

However, there would be a solution: for the unions of caregivers and local elected officials to take over the management of Social Security. “Since the ARS have managed, we have been in a budgetary logic of making savings whereas before, we were in a logic of meeting needs. We had the best health system in the world and today, we cannot manage even more to treat yourself properly”, regrets Damien Sallé, general secretary CGT Santé, Social Action of Côtes-d’Armor.

The Guingamp agglomeration has only 5.8 general practitioners per 10,000 inhabitants compared to 9.6 for the national average.