Covid-19: patients from hospitals in Ile-de-France transferred to western France
Evacuation of a patient by helicopter.
Here on April 2, 2020 (Photo illutration).
AFP - PHILIPPE LOPEZ
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The situation is still worrying in the hospitals of Ile-de-France.
Saturation is approaching due to the influx of patients with Covid-19, especially in intensive care.
Transfers of patients to other regions are being organized.
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The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, two days ago, announced the transfer of tens or even hundreds of patients from Ile-de-France.
The first operation took place this Saturday morning with the helicopter transfer of three patients.
These patients were hospitalized in intensive care in Seine-Saint-Denis, a department where critical care services are almost saturated.
They will join hospitals in the west of France, in Nantes, Angers and Le Mans.
Further evacuations are scheduled for Sunday.
And larger transfers could take place a little later, by medicalized TGV as in the first wave.
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Hospitals in Ile-de-France no longer have a choice.
The influx of Covid patients in intensive care is continuous and significant.
On average, there is a patient every 12 minutes, according to Olivier Véran, Minister of Health.
And there is a lack of staff, especially specialized nurses, to further expand the capacities of hospitals in the Ile-de-France region.
They cannot count on the massive reinforcement of personnel from other regions, as was the case a year ago, when the surge in Ile-de-France and in the Grand Est had led to a general mobilization. .
At the same time, the deprogramming of non-emergency operations is stepping up in public and private hospitals in the Ile-de-France region so that they can accommodate more Covid patients in intensive care.
The situation is critical.
"
It is played in bed
," said the director of the Assistance Publique-Hospitals of Paris (APHP), Martin Hirsch.
Reconfining Ile-de-France
Will it be necessary to reconfine Ile-de-France, where the pandemic is still progressing?
The government still hopes to loosen the grip on hospitals in the capital region, but keeps all options open.
For the time being, the executive has ruled out a weekend or full reconfinement in Ile-de-France, but Prime Minister Jean Castex hammered on Friday to "be
ready at any time to take additional measures
" if necessary.
This choice makes creak some officials of regions where weekend confinements have been reintroduced recently, such as Renaud Muselier, president of Paca, who denounced on Saturday an "
injustice
" between
the Alpes-Maritimes
, which begins their third weekend of confinement, and Seine-Saint-Denis, a suburb of Paris also very affected.
But the government replies that it is not possible to confine a single department in such a populated and overlapping region of Ile-de-France.
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