March 15, 2018.
Your smartphone could be an answer to medical deserts that prevent you from being able to see a doctor easily. Now, remotely, you can consult a general practitioner, and the latter can even send you a prescription.
It is now possible to consult a doctor from his phone
Fighting against medical deserts is a public health issue to which telemedicine provides a very interesting response, especially since it requires few resources, if not technological. These means are developing very quickly today and, thanks to a simple smartphone, it is now possible to benefit from a medical consultation, in just a few minutes, and even to obtain a prescription.
In the absence of general practitioners in many French regions, these teleconsultation applications are developing rapidly. But while they were, until now, considered as simple medical opinions by Health Insurance, they now have a real consultation status and could also soon be reimbursed by Social Security.
Medical deserts in dozens of French departments
For Mathilde Le Rouzic, co-founder of a telemedicine application, Hellocare, this new form of medicine responds to fundamental issues of the daily life of the French, including the support of ” patients who need to reach a doctor immediately as well as those who want to access a reliable medical response without having to travel many kilometers or go to the emergency room, due to the lack of a doctor available near them “.
According to the forecasts of the Order of Physicians, medical deserts are expected to worsen in the coming years. The latest Atlas of medical demography shows that the number of general practitioners in regular activity is falling and in 45 French departments, while the general population is increasing, the number of practitioners is decreasing.
Gaelle Latour
Read also Everything you need to know about telemedicine
