I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 967: Reduced Universal Health Care System

Perna blinked her sparkling eyes: "Why, why?"

"Human nature." Joseph organized his words and said, "You have to remember that human nature is always selfish.

"For example, the low-priced drugs you mentioned will be immediately bought by people pretending to be sick, and then sold to pharmacies at a slightly higher price. The hospital's drug stocks will be exhausted very quickly."

Perna was startled, but soon nodded slowly: "You are right. It seems that we can only let everyone go to the pharmacy to buy medicine, and the simple hospital is only responsible for diagnosis and treatment."

She immediately smiled again: "But even so, it can save everyone a lot of money."

The medical model of this era is still mainly based on private clinics. Doctors charge a lot for home visits.

Joseph sighed and shook his head again: "I'm afraid this can't be done. According to your plan, the simple hospital will hardly make any money, so the doctor's salary must be very low."

Perna nodded. "That's right. The doctor gets 65 francs a month. The nurse gets 28 francs."

Joseph said: “Such a meager income is not enough to keep them honest.

“It won’t be long before doctors prioritize patients who are willing to pay more, or have people who have recovered come back for repeat visits.

“Oh, even renting out beds and tents directly wouldn’t be surprising.

"In the end, people will find that seeing a doctor at a simple hospital is not much cheaper than seeing other doctors."

He looked at Perna who was already stunned, but still insisted on finishing his words: “In fact, even if everyone is a selfless saint, they will not be able to achieve your ideal result in the end.

"Such a simple hospital can only serve 300 people at most. Paris has 80 to 1 people, which means more than 300 simple hospitals are needed. Not to mention that it costs more than francs to build these hospitals, it is impossible to recruit doctors in total, just one doctor for each hospital.

“This is just Paris…”

Perna suddenly became extremely depressed.

She originally thought she had found a brilliant way to enable the poor to afford medical treatment, but after listening to what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said, she realized how naive her idea was.

After a moment, she looked at Joseph for help again: "Your Highness, is there no other way?"

In her heart, the Crown Prince is simply omnipotent.

Joseph was also quite helpless.

To be honest, he really wants to establish a universal health care system.

After all, population has always been a core indicator of national strength.

The larger the population, the stronger the country's productivity and military power.

Especially in the early stages of industrialization, the demand for labor was almost endless.

Moreover, France has acquired a lot of new territories in recent years, which need to be populated by its own population in order to be truly digested.

There are only two ways to increase the population: increasing the birth rate and reducing the death rate.

The medical conditions of this era were absolutely appalling.

Usually, only big cities have professional doctors, and the cost of diagnosis and treatment is high, mostly serving the nobility and the rich. Ordinary people basically rely on hard work and prayer when they get sick.

You mean the church hospital? That's where infectious patients are isolated and the treatment method is more professional prayer.

As for the rural areas, most medical services are performed by barbers who take the money and bleed the patients, regardless of whether they live or die.

If a universal health care system could be truly implemented, the unnatural death rate among France's population would definitely drop exponentially.

Apart from anything else, if there were doctors in all villages who told parents not to let their children drink dirty water when they have dysentery, thousands of children's lives could be saved every year. However, given France's current basic conditions, unless God appears, no one can build a hospital for every village.

It was not until half a century later that Britain, the most developed country in history, began to implement the "country hospital" system by leveraging its strong national strength brought about by industrialization.

Joseph put down the cutlery in his hand and patiently analyzed for Perna: "This, I'm afraid it's difficult...

“First, although the cost of building a simple hospital is very low, it would cost at least 4 million francs to set up a hospital across the country, which the national treasury cannot afford.

"And I don't think that's enough. It's normal for the cost of doing the same thing in a remote area to be twice as high as in Paris.

"Secondly, we simply don't have that many doctors."

Today, less than 300 people can obtain a medical license in France each year, which is not enough even in big cities, let alone in the countryside.

Joseph continued: "Even if enough doctors are trained, most of them are unwilling to go to the countryside."

Perna's eyes were a little dim, thinking that as the president of the Military Medical University, she should also bear part of the responsibility for not being able to train more qualified doctors.

Camelia, an outsider, muttered unwillingly, "It would be great if we could treat people even without hospitals and doctors."

Joseph couldn't help but laugh: "With all these gone, how can I ..."

He suddenly stopped talking halfway and said, wait, why can't we see a doctor if there are no hospitals or doctors?

Didn’t Eastern countries do this in the 1960s and 1970s?

He almost blurted out: "Barefoot doctor."

The term "barefoot doctor" even has a derogatory meaning in later generations, giving people the feeling that they are disregarding human life.

But Joseph knew very well that in the era when Eastern countries were short of funds and doctors after their founding, this "makeshift medical treatment" model saved countless lives.

The current situation in France is very similar to that of the Eastern countries at that time. So the optimal solution given by later generations can be directly copied.

The two girls sitting next to them looked over immediately.

"Did you just say, a doctor without shoes?"

"Who is that doctor?"

Joseph smiled: "It's not a person, it's a medical system.

“We were all too obsessed with form just now.

“In fact, a person with only basic medical knowledge can diagnose half of everyday illnesses.

"If he is given a manual that lists the clinical characteristics of various diseases and what drugs to use for treatment, he can even treat more than 70% of the diseases."

Perna's eyes lit up as well: "Yes, a mediocre 'doctor' is much better than no doctor at all.

“If you only train basic medical knowledge, a month is enough for a smart person.

"In this way, we can train a large number of people who can treat simple diseases in a short period of time."

Joseph felt that the name "barefoot doctor" was a bit awkward, so he changed it according to French custom: "We can call them 'quasi-doctors'.

"In each village, select a person who can read and write and has a quick mind, train him, and let him be responsible for the medical care of his village, even on a part-time basis.

"And the hospital is just a room in his house."

(End of this chapter)