Paris (AFP)
47 associations of patients denounced Monday "the notorious insufficiencies" in the management of the pain in France and their "dramatic consequences" for the persons concerned.
While "more than 12 million French suffer from chronic pain", "70% of those concerned still do not receive appropriate treatment," said these associations in a statement on the occasion of the World Day against organized pain Monday.
"Less than 3% of them are treated in a specialized centers, which are sorely lacking resources," they add, about the 243 specialized structures chronic pain (SDC).
These centers receive approximately 400,000 patients each year with pain that has lasted for several months or who resist the treatments offered by their general practitioner. It often takes several months of waiting to get an appointment.
In addition, "the lack of pain management also has a significant financial cost for society: professional disinheritance, increased health expenses ...", stress these organizations, including France Assos Health, APF France Handicap, AFSEP (multiple sclerosis), the League against cancer or Fibromyalgia France.
Also, the 47 associations demand that the pain be "recognized like a disease in its own right", with a recognition on the part of the caregivers, who too often downplay the subject.
They also call on "public authorities to make pain a real priority of health policies", implementing actions to prevent chronic pain, developing training on the subject, investing in research and recognizing the medicine of pain "as a true medical specialty".
Medical students wishing to train in pain medicine are currently undergoing one-year "transversal specialty training".
© 2019 AFP