Getting an appointment with a dermatologist has become an almost impossible mission in the Pyrénées-Orientales. On average, it takes more than 100 days to see a specialist. “I’ve been in the region for three years, and I still haven’t managed to get a consultation with a dermatologist. It’s impossible because they don’t take new patients” regrets a resident of Perpignan. The situation is worrying with the risk of undiagnosed melanoma.
“In our department, there is a shortage of doctors in all specialties and in particular in dermatology” observes Jean Paul Ortiz, doctor, honorary president of the CSMF, France’s leading union of liberal doctors. In Occitania, there are 306 dermatologists, including 157 for the former Languedoc – Roussillon region.
“Unfortunately we are going to have 3 to 5 years which will be very difficult. We have raised the numerus clausus but it will take time before we see the effects. Retirements are not replaced, in dermatology as in other other specialties.
Teleconsultation to deal with the shortage?
But the doctor points to other reasons: “Part of the dermatology activity has been oriented towards cosmetic surgery, not covered by social security, to the detriment of clinical dermatology”. And then the young doctors have new habits and some prefer to concentrate their working week on four days instead of five. To deal with this shortage, the union of dermatologists calls for the development of teleconsultations.