President Emmanuel Macron and his Minister of Health Olivier Véran met with caregivers at La Pitié Salpétrière hospital in Paris Thursday, February 27, 2020 to talk about the coronavirus. - Martin Bureau / AP / SIPA

  • Thursday morning, Emmanuel Macron and Olivier Véran, Minister of Health, met with caregivers from La Pitié hospital, where the first victim of the coronavirus died.
  • Coming to salute the work of caregivers, the president was questioned about the lack of resources of the public hospital while paramedics and doctors have been on strike for almost a year.
  • The president undertook to receive the Inter-Hôpitaux collective before the end of March and assured that he had heard the discomfort.

"I count on you as you can count on me," said Emmanuel Macron this Thursday morning, during a visit to the Pitié-Salpêtrière (AP-HP). Parisian hospital where the first Frenchman died of coronavirus in the night from Tuesday to Wednesday. The president, accompanied by his new Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, spoke at length with caregivers from the service mobilized to fight against this new virus. However, during this meeting, the insufficient resources of the public hospital were also discussed.

Follow with us the events of this Thursday, February 27 on the front of the coronavirus…

Indeed, for almost a year, some paramedics, joined by doctors from all hospital departments have been on strike. After two demonstrations, the last on February 14, the anger has not entirely subsided. The proof is, this somewhat abrupt exchange between Emmanuel Macron and François Salachas, neurologist but also member of the Inter-Hôpitaux collective, which was set up during this mobilization. This doctor called out to him: "without injecting rapid means, we will not be able to face this type of crisis", ensuring that it is "the opportune moment for the President of the Republic to act". "I am not in denial (...) I know you have the feeling that things are not going fast enough (...) and what you are experiencing justifies continuing to go faster and stronger, so I will be at see you, ”replied the president.

"A weakened hospital" facing a new blow

"There are emergency measures that have been taken several times," continued Emmanuel Macron, recalling that his government unveiled in 2019 three plans for emergencies, then the public hospital. "They are, I hear you, probably not up to the crisis and the pressure that is on the public hospital, in particular on the AP-HP". François Salachas, joined by 20 Minutes , goes further in this disturbing observation. “The means necessary for a rapid and perceptible change in the situation have not been implemented. We already didn't have time to wait, but even less in the light of the looming health crisis. "And this spokesperson for the collective dares a nuanced parallel:" in the same way that we die more easily from the coronavirus when we are a patient weakened by another disease, for a public hospital, weakened by the lack of funding for the past ten years, the risk has been greater not being able to face a new blow like this epidemic ”.

Public hospitals are already and will be even more on the front line if the coronavirus becomes an epidemic of magnitude. "I was on call that night, at 10 p.m., we must evacuate the resuscitation of the Creil hospital, the public service is standing up to find room to hospitalize the patients, one at La Pitié and two in Bichat, it ' that is the greatness of France ", testifies Patrick Pelloux, emergency doctor and president of the Association of emergency doctors of France (AMUF).

This visit in any case gave the opportunity to a handful of caregivers to draw the president's attention to a breathless public hospital. "I put him in the decision-making position and told him about Kairos, when the time was right," says the neurologist. When he explained to us that he was not responsible for the whole situation, I replied with an analogy: "when there is a fire, you must put it out and not say that it has been brewing for a long time ". "

A meeting with the President by the end of March

As a sign that Emmanuel Macron takes these calls for help seriously, he accepted, alongside his Minister of Health, to receive the collective, an opportunity that these doctors who have been mobilized for five months have long hoped for… you are taken by the end of March at the latest, ”confirms French Salachas, who sees this meeting with the Head of State as a“ first step ”. The president has indeed dubbed the collective live in front of the cameras. While this movement of anger remains barely visible to the general public, since these caregivers are assigned and continue to receive and treat patients.

What exactly is this collective asking for? “The financial means to hire must be available immediately to respond to the first emergency of the public hospital: hiring paramedics to reverse the current spiral of bed closings. And be able to be in battle if the coronavirus epidemic grows with the degree of uncertainty that exists today. For the moment, in what we have been told, nothing is operational. Indeed, for several months, some paramedics and doctors have been leaving the public, asking for a raise without success. "A collective of doctors who is fighting for the increase in the remuneration of paramedics is unprecedented, and it proves that there is fire," summarizes the neurologist.

Patrick Pelloux, president of the Association of Emergency Physicians of France (AMUF), is more skeptical. “Certainly, this health crisis will make the situation of the public hospital visible. There is an epidemic which will cross France, the president said it and everyone greets the public hospital. But perhaps we must give ourselves the means to work! This visit will not change anything. The president came to reassure the French and for the photos. Does he mean raising wages? To see, now, if the coronavirus will accelerate the changes in the public hospital…. Positively or negatively.

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  • Health
  • Medicine
  • Emmanuel Macron
  • Olivier Véran
  • Emergencies
  • coronavirus
  • Hospital