An outdated health administration, prefects "relegated to the background", a saturated emergency number: the National Federation of Firefighters denounces in a report to vitriol the management of the coronavirus epidemic. Revealed by Le Parisien , this document intended for the Ministry of the Interior "is not finalized and should not leak in the press", regretted with AFP the colonel Hugues Deregnaucourt, vice-president of the Federation. The organization, which represents the 247,000 firefighters in France, however assumes the criticisms made in this particularly scathing document vis-à-vis the Ministry of Health and its Regional Health Agencies (ARS).
>> LIVE - Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation Sunday July 5
For "a ministry of civil protection"
"The prefects have been blind for a very long time, no information was sent down by the ARS regional delegates," said Hugues Deregnaucourt. "Crisis management is a job, we don't leave it to administrative and financial directors," he said, assuring that, in many departments, "we really paid attention not to use the firefighters."
The management of the epidemic is curtailed by the report, which denounces a "crisis (...) of communication leadership" according to Le Parisien. "To be effective, managing a major crisis must mobilize a single director, a single operations commander and technical advisers," the document said.
>> READ ALSO - Coronavirus: for firefighters too, "it's a real mask race"
In the future, "Why not create a ministry of civil protection, as some countries do?", Pleads the colonel. According to the report, "the role of crisis commander has been given to technical advisers", which has caused "silos in the administrations, a blurring of strategic decisions."
ARS exceeded, communication operations
At the controls, the ARS had "accounting and financial management of the health system" and were "in no way prepared for the management of emergency situations. They seemed to be monopolized by the management of the number of places in hospital resuscitation and by the statistical feedback, "writes the Federation. Without dialogue with the ARS, "the prefects have been relegated to the background," according to the document. As a consequence, "the oblivion of the Ehpad, leaving only the local authorities facing the deaths in number of our elders".
CORONAVIRUS ESSENTIALS
> Coronavirus: three reasons to continue to respect barrier gestures
> Three questions about the Macron bonus, which can be paid until August 31
> Holidays: should grandparents worry about looking after their grandchildren?
> Can we catch coronavirus on a plane?
> Coronavirus: those companies that have imposed leave periods on employees
> Coronavirus: 5 mistakes not to make with your mask
The report also estimates that the hundreds of evacuations of patients in TGV or in helicopter, conceived to unclog the hospitals, were "pure operations of communication" and a "true blush". "Was it effective to make victims walk hundreds of kilometers, when often there was room in the clinic opposite?", Quotes Le Parisien . The document also denounces the saturation of the 15th, regulated by the Samu, with waiting times of around forty minutes in certain regions.