Emmanuel Macron faced accusations of racism on Friday over an alleged comment suggesting foreigners were clogging up French accident and emergency wards.

Le Monde, a French newspaper, said the French president complained the “problem with emergency care in this country is that it’s filled with Mamadous” during a discussion last year with Aurelien Rousseau, his then health minister.

Mamadou is a name popular among men originating from Muslim ethnic groups in West Africa. Right-wing critics in France say it should restrict so-called “health tourism” from foreign patients using its generous but strained health system.

The Elysee said Mr Macron did not make the comments.

A presidency official said: “The Elysee strongly denies these reported remarks, which were not subjected to any verification by the presidency before publication.”

It comes a day after the French president was accused of sexist remarks about women opposition leaders and a homophobic quip about a former prime minister he appointed himself.

He is also under fire for telling angry cyclone-struck inhabitants of the French Indian Ocean island of Mayotte they should be happy to be in France on a visit this week.

He told the crowd on Thursday: “If this was not [part of] France you would be 10,000 times deeper in the s---.”