Doctors are scarce in all of Luxembourg, but the shortage of practitioners is most felt in rural areas. In some cases, municipalities are even known to be in competition with each other by offering physicians to most advantageous working conditions possible.
Colmar-Berg recently intended to install a medical practice on Avenue Gordon Smith where the municipality bought two commercial spaces. At the moment, the town already has four doctors working from an office a little down the street. This building is however a little older and no longer fulfils present-day standards.
That is why the municipality approached some of the doctors a few years ago to see if there was interest in relocating to the new offices. This led to some tense discussions in a council meeting at the end of last year.
According to Mayor Christian Miny, two of the doctors told the municipality that the new offices were not adequate for a medical centre. This came as a surprise as both practitioners had allegedly conveyed their interest in the space only two years earlier.
The two doctors are said to have been on the fence about the space due to the high rent of €4,000 per month, as well as the fact that they still had to model the entire interior of the office.
During the aforementioned council meeting, councillor Fernand Diederich, who was Mayor of Colmar-Berg from 1994 to 2011, criticised that the doctors were not offered the possibility of eventually acquiring the space. It was then also discussed if there were any other uses for the location.
Mayor Mini argued that the space might be auctioned off, but other council members wanted to keep on searching for potential tenants. The aldermen council accepted to keep on looking for four to five months.
The situation had not really changed by mid April this year. Upon enquiry, Mayor Mini said that discussions were being held with interested parties, but did not disclose anything concrete other than the fact that they are not medical professionals. It seems unclear whether or not a lease agreement will be signed before the municipal elections on 11 June.
Interestingly, none of the incumbent members from the aldermen council will run for re-election.
Diederich argued that the current aldermen council should not take a decision on the space ahead of the election. He further made a case that the municipality should approach the doctors again, but refrains from doing so himself as one of them is his son.
