“We welcome this initiative of the Minister of Health”reacted Sunday, September 18 on franceinfo Luc Duquesnel president of the “general practitioners” branch of the Confederation of French medical unions (CSMF), while François Braun announced that free medical consultations will be offered to French people in “three ages of life, 25 years old, 45 years old and 65 years old”, to strengthen the prevention component of the French health system. “With preventive consultations, we might be less sick in the next five, ten or thirty years”.
How do you welcome this announcement from the Minister of Health?
I would say finally! For 20 years, general practitioners have been asking for preventive consultations. Our health system in France is totally based on care, whether in hospital or at the doctor’s. “I am sick so I will consult”. However, with preventive consultations, we might be less sick in the next five, ten or thirty years. These consultations exist for infants and children. There are three key ages in life: 25, 45 and 65 when these preventive consultations are to be carried out by the attending physician, who is the one who knows the patient best. Yes, we welcome this initiative by the Minister of Health.
Will the system rely on general practitioners?
Everything will depend on the content of this prevention consultation. We hope that it will not be a “riquiqui” consultation because not only is it of course the clinical examination of the patient that the general practitioners carry out, but also the study of the environment, the factors of vulnerability. We also see in many young people risky behavior with tobacco, alcohol, cannabis but also today screens, games or family history.
A consultation like this, at the age of 25, must also be the possibility for the attending physician to send a psychologist one day, if necessary.
Luc Duquesnelat franceinfo
At 25, it’s also about sexual health. For example, we see young girls who frequently have, due to heavy periods, iron deficiencies that impact their daily lives. Well, there you have it, all that is what ultimately means that today these young people, most of whom are not sick, do not consult.
And it would be more focused on screening for breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, says François Braun, from the age of 45. But do you think it requires going to a GP anyway?
There too, there are all the risky behaviors that exist at that age. But it’s also life at work. We see more and more mistreatment, people who are suffering at work. In addition, there is of course the family history. But I believe that here too, for screening, the attending physician also has all the letters from the specialists in his file because this can also lead to a referral to a specialist doctor. Overall, I believe that it is the role of the attending physician, but we must work in conjunction with other professionals.
When you see the number of 25-year-olds who have dental problems and who don’t know it at the time, they are then not taken care of and you find yourself at 30, at 35, with practically people for which it would be necessary to extract all the teeth.
Luc Duquesnelat franceinfo
Given the lack of doctors, the “medical deserts”, do you think that everyone will have easy access to this device?
We did some calculations. If I take the 25-year-olds, that’s roughly 740,000 young people. Given the number of attending physicians in France, this means 10 to 15 consultations per year per attending physician. Same thing for 45 year olds, so there is absolutely no problem.