“It’s not just in the remote countryside…”: the Paris region affected by medical deserts

Last year, the number of doctors increased slightly in France. There were 3,272 more, an increase of 1.4%. This is what the Order of Physicians noted on Wednesday, October 2, in its Atlas which is published every year. However, this increase is still far from solving the problem of medical deserts, which does not only concern the countryside, but also the cities. This is the case, for example, in the Paris suburbs.

In this pharmacy in Malakoff, in Hauts-de-Seine, we are looking for alternatives. Laurent, despite having a serious cold, was unable to find an appointment with his doctor. “It is completely overwhelmed. It is not only in the remote countryside that there is a shortage of doctors,” he notes. Agnès Buyck, the neighborhood pharmacist, confirms: in the suburbs near Paris, like here in Malakoff, we can now speak of a “medical desert”. “Over the last five years, we have seen four doctors retire, who have not been replaced…”

So, faced with these increasing difficulties in accessing care for her patients, she has just installed a teleconsultation booth in a quiet room of the pharmacy. “In Malakoff, at least two of us will be equipped. In Montrouge [commune voisine]there is a pharmacy which is also equipped.”

This is where Laurent ends up getting a video appointment with a doctor. A thermometer, stethoscope and other instruments are connected to the teleconsultation device. In a few minutes, Laurent obtains a diagnosis and a prescription.

Teleconsultation in pharmacies is not necessarily the solution, but a solution, because beyond general practitioners, specialist doctors are also starting to be lacking in Malakoff.