Medical deserts: Mende will host a university branch of the Montpellier Faculty of Medicine

Une opportunité réciproque, pour les étudiants et pour les Lozériens. Midi Libre – PIERRE SALIBA

Pour Laurent Suau, c'est l'opportunité de donner l'envie à quelques-uns de ces étudiants de s'installer en Lozère pour exercer.

Mende will host a university branch of the Montpellier Faculty of Medicine from the start of the September school year: this was the announcement made recently by Isabelle Laffont, dean of the Montpellier Faculty of Medicine. . A project that Mayor Laurent Suau addressed in January, during his wishes to the population, for which he placed health at the heart of his concerns for the territory. 

This welcome is made possible thanks to the interaction between the hospital, its services and its professionals, community medicine, but also thanks to Doctor Mathilde Minet who teaches courses at the Faculty of Medicine in his capacity as lecturer.

An increased need for training grounds

With the increase in student numbers, there is an increased need for internship sites. It is in this context that Doctor Mathilde Minet, head of the local educational unit in Lozère, defended this university anchor in medicine to develop the reception of new students. The antenna must meet care and educational objectives, but also research and information, with the necessary presence on the territory of a health center and a health center. a hospital.

The dean of the faculty, Isabelle Laffont, noted the opening of new positions for externs at the hospital, in order to develop the second cycle offer and continue the university anchoring already initiated with the foundation of existing training. At the end of their externship, these students will have to choose a generalist or specialist medicine path.

"Our challenge is to train students here in Mende, so that they discover the territory, and that they want to settle there. A great signal for health. Let's bet that the well-being of our territories and the welcome we give them will convince them to settle here! " formula Laurent Suau, mayor of Mende.

The removal of the numerus clausus

With the removal of the numerus clausus, the number of medical students is growing significantly. The dean affirms that in four years, it went from 230 in the second year to 400. The faculty is thus opening internships in the territories while promoting interprofessional training. The objective is to increase the number of health professionals in rural areas and to promote a coordinated and multi-professional approach.

Mende and Lozère already welcome internship interns (seventh to tenth year of study, third cycle) as well as external students (third to sixth year of study ;rsquo;study, second cycle). This represents around twenty internal students and three to five external students, who are welcomed at the hospital or in general practitioners' offices throughout the territory. These six-month internships allow these medical students to come and train in Lozère.