September 5, 2016.
In Oberbuck, the doctors examine you behind their screens. After three years of fruitless search for a general practitioner, a telemedicine cabinet was inaugurated this morning.
5 doctors for 6 hours of teleconsultation per week
Could telemedicine be the solution to the problem of medical deserts? The Alsatian town of Oberbuck, located in the Haut-Rhin, will soon be able to answer this question. Since this morning, and after three years of a shortage of doctors difficult for the inhabitants, the municipality decided to try the experiment of remote medicine.
The town hall had to invest € 50,000 to acquire the equipment necessary for the proper functioning of this remote practice which, to ensure the medical follow-up of the 400 inhabitants of the town, will be open for 1.5 hours a day, four times a week. Each permanence will be provided by one of the five doctors participating in the operation. They will take turns, assisted by a nurse, to listen to the patients, seated in front of a camera. After making their diagnosis, they can send their prescription, which will be printed directly in front of the patient.
Telemedicine, the answer to medical deserts?
If the inhabitants are still skeptical, at the time of the opening of this virtual cabinet, the Association of rural mayors of France believes that this solution will provide, at least for a while, an answer to the question of medical deserts. Asked about France TV Info, Vanik Berberian, president of the association, said that it was a ” good solution “, While noting that it was not” the solution Ideal.
” No, it does not replace [une consultation physique]. But when you go to see your doctor, it’s for more or less important things, more or less serious. It is true that a remote consultation, especially when there is the mediation of a nurse, can help. If it can help relieve congestion in waiting rooms or prevent the doctor from spending hours on the road with his car to see his patients, it is rather a good solution. “, Said Vanik Berberian.
You will also like: Access to healthcare: the “health divide” is getting worse
