“How not to make mistakes, when we are asked to work with human and material resources well below those to which we can claim?” “The purpose of medicine is to relieve suffering; NHS failings now amplify it.”
This observation is made by a British doctor in an open letter sent to the bimonthly The Economist, 1843. It could have been written by a French, Italian, Chinese, Spanish practitioner… and that is why we have chosen to translate it at the opening of this week’s file. Around the world, the Covid-19 pandemic has served as a revealer: caregivers are often at their wit’s end and health systems are in critical condition. Underfunded, undersized, they no longer manage to take care of more and more patients. And aging, too.
In France, the subject is more topical than ever. Stuck in its pension reform, the government has not convinced general practitioners either. Negotiations started several months ago on pricing and working conditions have failed. And, little by little, France is turning into a medical desert, is saddened The world.
In this slump, only Norway, where every citizen has their own GP, is an exception, analyzes Today’s News. In Germany, where a large number of establishments are short of money, “a hospital crisis is to be expected”, explains the business magazine WirtschaftsWoche. In Italy, you sometimes have to wait a year for an MRI, is indignant The Espresso. In the UK, nurses recently went on strike for the first time in their history; in Madrid, at least 250,000 people marched on February 12 in defense of the public health system…
We could continue the list indefinitely, the observation is the same everywhere. In rich countries, systems are under pressure because the demand for care “explode” and the offer does not follow, advance The Economist. So what to do? For the British weekly, it is necessary to carry out “reforms that were already desirable, such as the streamlining of procedures or the introduction of greater competition”.
A very liberal point of view that we find surprisingly in the columns of the Chinese weekly Caixin : “The epidemic has been a short-term shock, but China’s aging population is a slow variable that should push us to step up reform,” explains the economic magazine, which calls for an end to the bureaucratic red tape of the health system but also to conflicts of interest.
Proof that some issues are global, Caixin is also moved by the lack of vocation and recognition of health-related professions: “We need to arouse interest in health professions. Access to the medical profession is difficult. In addition, the issue of remuneration cannot be avoided, especially in basic medical centers, where the low salaries offered struggle to attract practitioners.”
In Italy, faced with the shortage of personnel, Calabria decided to call on 500 Cuban practitioners: after language and culture courses, the first contingent was to start work at the end of January.. “Emergency physicians, surgeons, cardiologists, hematologists, radiologists, gynecologists and pediatricians. Half of them have already worked abroad: in Africa, America, the Arab world, sometimes also in Europe”. detailed The Republic, who met the head of the Cuban delegation. “We are trained to be able to adapt easily. In Cuba, this is part of the baggage of any good doctor”, he wants to reassure. Certainly.
But is this the long-term solution? The sick in the north, the caregivers in the south? In Zimbabwe, denounces the site The African Exponent, nurses are more and more tempted by a migration to the United Kingdom, which opens their arms. They are not the only ones. So much so that the International Council of Nurses recently sounded the alarm. The recruitment by rich countries of personnel from countries of the South now weighs heavily on the health systems of the latter. The emergency, decidedly, is truly global.
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