medical desertification, a forgotten theme of the campaign

The theme of medical deserts is one of the great absentees from the presidential campaign. However, in Châteauroux (Indre)as in many rural areas, finding a doctor has become an almost impossible mission. In the office of general practitioner Thierry Keller, consultations follow one another all day, with an average of 30 to 35 patients seen per day. The doctor is obliged to limit his new patients to the inhabitants of the surroundings. Most of his colleagues simply don’t take it anymore.

The situation could get even worse, as the doctor plans to retire soon. He already knows that he will have no successor. To relieve doctors, some candidates like Emmanuel Macron (LREM) propose to broaden the skills of pharmacists and nurses. But, for Doctor Keller, none of the candidates is capable of solving the problem of medical deserts. Some candidates want to force doctors to settle in medical deserts. For them, it’s a bad idea. They also consider that no candidate is capable of saving the health system. In France, 11% of the population lives in a medical desert.