• A report presented to the Academy of Medicine considered it "illusory to support" maternity hospitals with less than 1,000 deliveries per year in the face of the shortage of medical staff.
  • In Paca, this is the case of those Digne-les-Bains, Manosque, or Briançon.
  • Renaud Muselier, the president of the Paca region ex-LR rallied to Macron, was worried but was reassured by François Braun, the Minister of Health.

The president of the Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur region said Thursday in a statement that he had received pledges from the government for the maintenance of maternity hospitals in Briançon, Digne and Manosque, after a report advocating the closure of establishments performing less than 1,000 deliveries per year.

No proactive policy to close maternity services

In a letter dated April 25, Health Minister François Braun assured Renaud Muselier: "We have in no way a proactive policy of closing maternity services, whether in Digne-les-Bains, Manosque (Editor's note: Alpes-de-Haute-Provence), or elsewhere in France." In Briançon (Editor's note: Hautes-Alpes), the hospital "has its place" and "must be strengthened as such".

"This is a major and essential political arbitration for our territories," said Renaud Muselier, ex-LR who rallied Emmanuel Macron, in a statement published Thursday. "The specificity of our territories, more rural than others, is a fight that must continue to be waged on each issue," say the mayors of Forcalquier, Manosque and Briançon, in this text.

In an article in March, David Géhant, Camille Galtier and Arnaud Murgia believed that "implementing this report would lead to women giving birth on the road" and that "the solution to the lack of doctors cannot be the closure of services". A report presented to the Academy of Medicine in February deemed it "illusory to support" maternity hospitals with fewer than 1,000 deliveries per year, particularly in the face of the shortage of medical staff.

A few days later, several learned societies and a users' association asked in a forum that the perinatal care system be rethought. According to them, the "grouping of technical platforms" that will result in maternity closures "must be accompanied by the multiplication of perinatal centers of proximity (CPP)".

In his letter, the minister explains that he wants to "study, with all the actors concerned, the avenues for the evolution of our model". But "engaging in such a reflection does not in any way amount (...) to massively close maternity hospitals." "My priority will always be the safety and quality of care" for women and newborns, adds François Braun.

  • Politics
  • Renaud Muselier
  • Hautes-Alpes
  • Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
  • PACA
  • Alpes de Haute-Provence
  • Motherhood
  • Public service
  • Rurality