The 3,541 doctors include 778 general practitioners, 1,952 specialists, and 811 dentists. Of these, 430 were based in the northern region, which covers the cantons of Diekirch, Redange, Clervaux, Wiltz, and Vianden with around 100,000 inhabitants.
This emerges from a parliamentary reply by Health Minister Martine Deprez to a question tabled by MPs André Bauler and Gilles Baum of the Democratic Party (DP). Her figures show that the North counted 118 GPs, with notable disparities between cantons: 46 in Diekirch, 26 in Redange, 23 in Clervaux, 19 in Wiltz and only four in Vianden. By comparison, the Centre hosted 325 GPs, the South 262, and the East 73. Overall, nearly 42% of the country’s general practitioners are concentrated in the Centre.
The North is also home to 75 dentists (Diekirch 30, Redange 10, Clervaux 17, Wiltz 16, Vianden 2) and 237 specialists (Diekirch 194, Redange 10, Clervaux 6, Wiltz 27). Across Luxembourg as a whole, 811 dentists and 1,952 specialists were practising in 2024, with the largest share in the Centre (418 dentists, 1,222 specialists).
Looking at density, the South had more than three doctors per 1,000 residents, while the Centre recorded the highest level with nearly eight per 1,000. The East stood between these two, and the North had the lowest density overall.
The minister’s response also underlined age differences: in the North, 14.7% of doctors are over 65, while 26.1% are between 55 and 64, and 14% are under 35. By contrast, doctors in the Centre are proportionally younger, with nearly half under 44, whereas the East showed the highest proportion of older doctors, including those over 65.
Deprez also addressed the emergency activity at the Centre Hospitalier du Nord (CHdN) in Ettelbruck and Wiltz. The parliamentary reply stated that emergency activity has risen sharply since the creation of its emergency unit in 2019, which treated 52,280 patients in its first year. After a drop in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, activity rebounded in 2021 and surpassed 2019 levels in 2022. Provisional data show a further 14.1% rise in 2024 compared with 2023, well above the national average increase of 7.9%, with CHdN recording the strongest growth.
The Ettelbruck medical house, currently located in Rue Salentiny, will move into a new, larger and more modern building by 2026. While discussions are ongoing about creating a second state-run medical house in the North, the minister noted that doctor shortages may complicate staffing two separate sites, despite some municipal initiatives to develop group practices.
On weekends and public holidays, the Ettelbruck medical house is open from 8am to midnight, with a home visit service available through 112. For elderly care homes, an on-call system run by liberal doctors under agreement with the State ensures night, weekend and holiday coverage.
Finally, 41 doctors are engaged in school medicine in the North: 35 in primary schools and 13 in secondary schools, with some covering both.
