“We are doing a bad job”, in the midst of an epidemic of bronchiolitis, the cry of alarm from pediatricians

Yasmina Kattou, edited by Romain Rouillard 8:04 p.m., November 30, 2022

The fed up is obvious among caregivers in France.

A column, signed by 10,000 of them and published this Wednesday by the newspaper

, denounces the "silence" of Emmanuel Macron on the pediatric crisis in the hospital.

This specialized branch has been particularly called upon in recent weeks with the bronchiolitis epidemic which affects several thousand children each week.

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- Bronchiolitis: hospitalizations rebound, at very high levels

At the microphone of Europe 1, Professor Isabelle Desguerre, head of the neuropediatrics department at the Necker hospital in Paris, describes an "extremely relaxed and catastrophic" situation.

"There are children who are with ventilatory support in the emergency room corridors and children who are hospitalized in adult wards," she continues.

A reality that is all the more distressing as the peak of the bronchiolitis epidemic has not yet been reached.

"And behind, there is the flu epidemic which is happening," she warns. 

Discouraged caregivers

In such a case, Isabelle Desguerre recognizes that it is no longer possible to offer patients a service as qualitative as before.

"Indeed, at the moment, we are doing a bad job and we have the impression that we are not fulfilling our function of providing pediatric care in good conditions. And this is to the detriment of the children", she laments. . 

In addition, she also deplored the "discouragement" that wins the nurses and caregivers involved in the care of the child.

"After this epidemic, it will be disastrous. People will leave," she predicts.