Ormesson-sur-Marne (France) (AFP)

Nailed at home, Antoine Héloury has a feverish voice: "We are left to ourselves". Tested positive for Covid-19, this general practitioner in Brittany had to close his practice. Between insufficient protection and incomplete information, his colleagues point out the authorities' shortcomings.

"I have a little fever, 38.4 ° C, but above all aches and excessive fatigue", confides to AFP the doctor, 57, only general practitioner of Tréveneuc (Côtes d'Armor). At "D + 7", when the disease can switch to more serious forms, he concedes to be "worse". "A doctor friend will come and examine me" to determine if hospitalization is necessary.

He is categorical, it was in his office that he "caught" the virus: "I was coming back from vacation in a remote corner of the Basque Country, I had met no one". He had to go to the Paimpol hospital to be tested after the Samu refused him the test.

Monday March 16 and Tuesday March 17, day of the confinement, it chained nearly a hundred consultations "without any protection", except "a dozen masks". "A priori", no patient received has since reported worrying symptoms, he said.

"I work alone, my practice is not adapted to manage this kind of pathologies". The Covid-19? "We are not very helped. I got the news from the internet, like everyone else," he confesses.

In Ormesson-sur-Marne (Val-de-Marne), Michaël Bohbot plagues against the "broken promises" of Olivier Véran on the delivery of FFP2 masks to general practitioners. "We received a box of 50 for seven doctors and ten liberal nurses. It doesn't even happen during the day," he squeaks.

It is with an expired stock, dating from the H1N1 epidemic, that he receives his patients and can detect them since Monday thanks to kits provided by "a local biologist". He reserves them for "symptomatic" caregivers. On Wednesday, he received a positive test, "a pharmacy assistant".

- "We are the thermometer" -

In Rémilly (Moselle), Christophe Bergmann has redesigned the meeting beaches. "In the morning, we take only non-infectious people and we reserve the afternoon for everything that is infectious, to avoid contact between them," said the doctor. Hydroalcoholic gel is placed on the counter of the medical secretary and masks are distributed at the entrance.

No test at his office, you must go to the laboratory. "It's a nasal swab, it's happening in the parking lot. People see it and are a little afraid," he slips.

The proximity of Mulhouse, epicenter of the epidemic in France, and the eruption of small foci of contamination in the department around Forbach, catalyze the concerns of its patients. "We spend a lot of time reassuring."

Even if he too is "afraid of being contaminated" and concedes to have more information "in the media than by our authorities", like the Regional Health Agency (ARS). With several colleagues in the region, he created a self-help group on WhatsApp messaging.

It is also thanks to "the solidarity of local businesses and town halls" that a doctor from Finistère, who wishes to remain anonymous, can examine his patients behind his FFP2 mask. The stocks of his usual supplier were requisitioned for the first round of the municipal elections. The state has "given up" on medicine, he pleads. "In the end, we will count the dead and there will be accounts for everyone."

"We saw Emmanuel Macron in nursing homes, at the hospital, I did not see him in a city office" where "80% of patients potentially affected by Covid-19 are received", notes Michael Bohbot.

No liberal general practitioner in activity - 60,000 in France - is also present on the scientific committee which advises the Head of State and the government.

An error, according to this doctor: "We are here to tell what is happening in real life. If there is temperature, if the treatment is effective. We are the thermometer. It is a shame to miss out us for decisions that affect the whole country. "

© 2020 AFP