France is going through a dry spell. Apparently it’s the most severe drought ever recorded in this country and has been coupled with unusually high temperatures in both summer and winter. Water use restriction is not uncommon and there are even a few communities where drinking water is simply not available; bottled water only until further notice. Crops have suffered, hydropower generation has decreased while wildfires have damaged forests bringing about erosion. But that’s not the only “arid” situation that is occurring. The newspaper has labeled it a “medical desert” and we were temporarily affected by that.

The French Ministry of Health has a 63-page document entitled, “Medical Deserts: How to Define Them; How to Measure Them” that essentially says it’s an area where there is a severe shortage of doctors and other health professionals. One of the causes of this situation is the limit on the number of new medical students that was imposed in 1971 in hopes of reducing costs and an oversupply of doctors. The latter part of that plan appears to have worked too well so in 2020 the limit was lifted but it’s still expected to take a decade before a balance between new and retiring doctors is reached.

Our médecin traitant (attending physician) retired this summer so a search for another began. Looking at the statistics it didn’t seem as if that was going to be a challenge. According to Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, in France there are 140 general practitioners per 100,000 residents so with 65 GPs in Carcassonne for a population of 47,000 we should be right on par with the rest of the country.

We may have the right number of doctors but they apparently are already helping as many people as they can since we couldn’t find anyone who would add us to their roster . We did locate one doctor whose online profile said that she was accepting new patients but during a drop-in visit to her office she explained that the profile was out-of-date. Seeing the disappointment on my face she suggested returning at the end of summer after the rentrée when everyone is back in school and she might have space.

It was time to expand our search. We had used the Doctolib website https://www.doctolib.fr/ to schedule appointments with our now-retired doctor and even to have a videoconference with him during the Covid pandemic. The website asks you to select the type of doctor you want to find plus the location, and you can narrow the results with various filters including “new patient” via video or in-office visit. The good news is that we immediately found a doctor with video appointments available that same evening and happily we are now registered with him as our médecin traitant. His office, however, is located in Narbonne which is a 30-minute train ride from here. That distance was not an issue for the doctor and we believe that future video calls, supplemented by an occasional office visit will suit our needs.

Why do you need a médecin traitant? It all begins with her or him, that is, this is the person who will follow your health, write prescriptions, and make referrals to specialists. The other issue is money. While you can go to a specialist on your own, the fee you pay may be higher and your reimbursement from the national health service will be lower (30% instead of 70%) if you arrive without a referral from your family doctor.

Obviously we’re very happy to have found a new doctor even if he is half an hour away by train. There are closer offices accepting new patients but only reliably reachable if you have a car. We’ll just make a day of it by getting a morning appointment, having lunch out, and being back home in plenty of time for an apéro!

Illustrations are from the Doctolib website, thank you.

Good to know: For springtime pollen allergies I can take an over-the-counter medication but sometimes it’s cheaper if I get a prescription, even after factoring in the cost of a doctor’s visit. Generally speaking, once a doctor gives you a prescription, you have 3 months to have it filled before it is no longer valid. I just received a 12-month prescription (fill once, refill 11 times) that the pharmacist explained could only be filled one month at a time; that is, I must return to the pharmacy each month to obtain a 30-day supply. She assured me that this prescription would indeed be valid for the entire year.