TESTIMONY
In France, the coronavirus pandemic caused the death of more than 27,000 people, so 83 in 24 hours, Wednesday. More than 58,600 patients were nevertheless cured thanks to the work of caregivers. Staff that the government intends to honor during the next parade on July 14. They could indeed be decorated with the legion of honor, the medal of the national order of merit, but also the medal of commitment, created during the cholera epidemic which had hit France in 1884.
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"We are fighting for the public hospital, not for medals"
During the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, the government spokeswoman, Sibeth Ndiaye, affirmed Emmanuel Macron's desire to make this national holiday "an additional occasion to express the tribute and recognition of the Nation to all those who are engaged in the fight against the Covid-19 ".
"I think we are being made fun of," reacts Professor Stéphane Dauger, head of the pediatric resuscitation service at Robert Debré hospital in Paris. "It is not medals, bonuses or vacation gifts that will meet our needs," he continues. "We are fighting for the public hospital, not for us, not for medals."
For him, these very meager initiatives, which are exclusively symbolic, have been a total disregard for the work of caregivers for several months. "If other things more important than that were heard, set in motion, advanced, such as the salary increase for the lowest wages, with the sole objective of maintaining in the public hospital the necessary competent resources, we could discuss all these gestures, which would strengthen the image of the public hospital at the national level. But we are not there yet. "
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"Not the slightest hand extended for wage negotiations"
"We are served and we are drunk with that when we did not have the slightest hand stretched to start wage negotiations", abounds Professor Stéphane Dauger. "And I'm not talking about closing the beds, I'm not talking about governance ... We are out of touch with reality!"
Today, caregivers are still awaiting a new hospital plan, recently promised by French President Emmanuel Macron. Premiums (up to 1,500 euros) provided by the government to meet the needs of caregivers have not yet been paid. Promised in late March by the head of state, they will be paid "in the coming weeks", probably "on the pay of May or June," said the government spokeswoman. "The decree is about to be signed".
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