It took a week for the Minister of Health to recognize it. François Braun finally admitted on Wednesday August 10 that yes, several emergency services are currently closed in France, in a context of concerns about the ability of hospitals to get through the summer. “In terms of closures, that is to say an emergency service that would no longer welcome anyone, there were four before July, there are eight today”he said on the antenna of RTL.
Emergencies: the Minister of Health admits that services are closed #RTLMatinpic.twitter.com/knAoryIKJ0
— RTL France (@RTLFrance) August 10, 2022
These remarks mark a change of speech of the minister who refuted so far any closure of emergencies. Traveling to the Nantes University Hospital on August 3, to talk about the measures put in place by the government to deal with the crisis in public hospitals, the Minister of Health François Braun was thus questioned on the question of these services. “There are no emergency closures”he had then indicated on BFMTV, while calling to stop using this term ” scary “despite evidence to this effect from health professionals.
Relative consequences
In a survey published in early August, the Samu-Urgences France association, which François Braun himself chaired just before joining the government, reported that multiple emergency services had closed for several days in July. This survey is part of a context of concerns among caregivers about the ability of hospitals to get through the summer, against a backdrop of a lack of beds and staff.
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If the minister finally acknowledged the existence of closures, he nevertheless put their consequences into perspective. Among the eight establishments closed, a figure also much lower than those reported by professionals, “there are four clinics with public emergency services nearby”nuanced François Braun. “We must keep reason”. The Minister also reiterated that all plots of land in France continued to have access to“vital emergencies”if necessary via mobile Samu teams.
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