There is a high concentration of people in Paris, especially, and everyone would likely overwhelm the local doctors' office if large numbers of the population became sick at the same time. Pharmacists relieve that problem. If a sick person is beyond a pharmacist's help, then that person visits the doctor.
Yes. When I became sick here for the first time, there was a pharmacy with a pharmacist next door to me. Also, one of my neighbors is a pharmacisr! I told her my symptoms, and she gave me medicine within five minutes. Again, the French believe it is important to feel better as quickly as possible and to get you back to work. The pharmacy medicine seemed to work for about a week. I got better near my birthday: February 25th. Then, I became sick two days later. When I went to the pharmacy this time, I was prescribed medicine to relieve pain. It did not work. After three days, I was still in pain.
So, I went to the hospital in Paris. Hospitals are for immediate attention, and there are staff there that offer to speak English as well as French. I went there to see a doctor and got prescribed antibiotics for the bacteria living in my throat. This doctor visit cost me 200 euros ($230 USD). It was expensive due to the emergency care I received at the hospital. Normally, doctors in France charge 30 euros ($34.5 USD) per visit. However, even though a visit to the doctor is cheap in France, you generally have to wait a day or two for your appointment due to the numbers of other people visiting the doctor for various reasons.
