France faces severe dermatologist shortage as patients wait for appointments
Around 200,000 skin cancer cases are diagnosed annually in France while a lack of specialists makes securing medical appointments increasingly difficult.
Clinics struggle with high demand
Patients often arrive early or travel long distances to see a doctor. One clinic in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés is already packed at 8am. A patient from Reims traveled 130 kilometres to reach the appointment.
Shortage limits available treatment slots
Half of the country's dermatologists are nearing retirement age. Only about 100 new specialists are trained each year to replace them. Some doctors open evening appointments to handle urgent cases like melanoma removal.
Urgent cases require special scheduling
Doctors reserve slots for the following day to treat critical conditions. These emergency appointments fill up within three minutes of being released. The current system cannot meet the growing need for care.
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