Cancer specialist Henri Pujol unveils a plaque in his name at the Bagnols-sur-Cèze hospital which is celebrating its 50th anniversary

Professor Henri Pujol unveiled the plaque bearing his name alongside Doctor Hervé Arène, elected officials and representatives of the council of elders. C.B.

The forecourt of the Bagnols-sur-Cèze hospital was named after Professor Henri Pujol. C.B.

Le docteur Hervé Arène et le professeur Henri Pujol, jeudi 12 septembre sur le parvis de l’hôpital de Bagnols. C.B.

The eminent Montpellier cancer specialist Henri Pujol was honored on Thursday, September 12, during the 50th anniversary of the Bagnols-sur-Cèze hospital center.

The forecourt of the Bagnols-sur-Cèze hospital center now bears the name of the eminent Montpellier cancer professor Henri Pujol. On Thursday, September 12, the cancer specialist unveiled, accompanied by Bagnols-sur-Cèze doctor Hervé Arène – who created the maternity hospital of Bagnols-sur-Cèze and who was part of the team of founders of the hospital –, a plaque dedicated to him, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the hospital center of Bagnols.

“The name of Professor Henri Pujol was chosen by the council of elders of Bagnols“  to baptize the hospital forecourt, emphasized Ghislaine Bernardet, former president of the committee of wise men, and the mayor of Bagnols-sur-Cèze, also president of the hospital supervisory board, Jean-Yves Chapelet. “A choice unanimously validated by the city's municipal council".

“I am happy to be with you! ” launched the 94-year-old cancer specialist from Hérault, who was the charismatic president of the league against cancer (from 1997 to 2008) before becoming its honorary president today. In front of an audience of guests – former hospital directors, elected officials, representatives of the ARS (regional health agency) – Henri Pujol recalled that 30 years ago, the Montpellier cancer treatment center, of which he was then director, “ had made two doctors available to the Bagnols hospital. And the Bagnols hospital helped the Montpellier University Hospital". The retired obstetrician-gynecologist Hervé Arène, "was then giving consultations at the Montpellier hospital, it was reciprocal".

"We don't treat a tumor, we treat a person"

Years later, Henri Pujol was part of the commission for the first cancer plan (2003-2007), driven by Jacques Chirac. "The League Against Cancer wanted this plan to bring humanism" into the treatment of the disease, “that it is not only material”: we do not treat a tumor, we treat a person“””he repeated, while praising the systems”developed by the Bagnols hospital: “a users' committee with expert patients, overall care in the Gard rhodanien region, the care pathway“. Professor Pujol took advantage of his speech to bring "a note of hope" for cancer patients: "extraordinary things are happening with immunotherapy".

The emergency room construction site is planned for the end of 2024, a third scanner in 2025

À On the occasion of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Bagnols-sur-Cèze hospital center on its current site, its director, Jean-Philippe Sajus, listed the different developments of the hospital and its phases of modernization.

“Today, the hospital covers an area of ​​140,000 inhabitants who exceeds the Gard rhodanien“. A hospital which, in 1974, treated 6,000 people per year, "that is double today". The number of beds has increased from "230 in 1974 to 553 in 2024". A figure that speaks for itself: the number of patients received for consultation has been multiplied by twenty in fifty years, “we went from 9,000 to 180,000“. Doctors were about ten 50 years ago, compared to 129 today.

To cope with the increase in the number of visits to the hospital emergency room, “between 20,000 and 30,000 patients per year in a building that has become too cramped” stressed the hospital director, “the reconstruction project will be launched end of 2024". Another planned project, "the construction in 2027 of a new building to accommodate the hospital's near-stay facilities".

In 2025, the Bagnols hospital center will be equipped with a third scanner, "the construction is underway". This new equipment will be added to the two MRIs on the medical imaging platform.

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