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Video length: 1 min.
The lack of doctors during their holidays affects the proper functioning of emergencies. Some services are forced into temporary closures. Others are trying to better regulate the influx of patients, in particular by reminding them to call 15 first.
It is impossible to miss them. A sign indicates the new instructions for accessing the emergency room in Haguenau (Bas-Rhin). Unless there is a heart or pediatric problem, you will first have to call 15 and get the sesame from the SAMU regulators. Novelty is variously appreciated by patients. “It’s an obstacle (…) I’m afraid of waiting too long, or that we may be badly redirected“, confides a woman. The measure, in force until August 27, aims to relieve the service.
Four out of 18 positions are still vacant
On average, there is a 4.5 hour wait and around a hundred patients received, 10 to 15% of whom could be treated in town. Time is precious in a context of shortage of emergency physicians. In Haguenau, four out of 18 positions are still vacant. The lack of practitioners affects all emergency services in the region. In Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin), ten emergency physicians are missing. Other services must thus force themselves to total but punctual closures.