Four patients must be transferred this week from Reunion to the metropolis, while the island is overwhelmed by the South African variant of Covid-19.

An expensive and heavy operation in terms of logistics.

Fifteen caregivers must also embark, and the plane must be adapted to the medical care of the sick.  

REPORT

In Reunion, hospitals are overwhelmed by the rise of the South African variant of the coronavirus.

Due to the saturation of hospitals, where intensive care units are more than 90% occupied, a first medical evacuation of four patients to the metropolis must take place this week.

To ensure these transfers, freight planes will be transformed. 

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With eleven hours of flight between Saint-Denis and Paris, the trip is very risky for the sick.

These evacuations should therefore be organized only in case of extreme necessity, warns Martine Ladoucette, the director of the Regional Health Agency in Reunion.

"Such an evacuation is not taken for granted, neither technically nor medically for the people transferred. It must be conceived as a last resort that we should be able to avoid as much as possible," he said. -she. 

"Take more than 30,000 liters of oxygen on board"

The logistics are indeed extremely heavy, with four patients per flight and around fifteen caregivers.

Converting a Boeing 747 into a flying ambulance will not be easy, explains Sabrina Waddle, secretary general of the CHU.

"We will need to take more than 30,000 liters of oxygen on board. We must therefore ensure that we have the power supply for all this material," she describes.

"An area at the back of the plane will accommodate the four patients with the medical team. There is also an area where the medical teams can dress and undress to access the area with the sick."

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This unprecedented operation will also require significant financial resources.

A cost of 10,000 euros per trip and per patient was mentioned.