“Mortality due to Covid-19 was observed to be significantly higher in private establishments than in public establishments”explains Wednesday, February 9 to the National Assembly Jean-Louis Touraine, LREM deputy for the Rhône and vice-president of the French Hospital Federation, as part of the hearings after the revelations of the book The Gravediggers by Victor Castanet. According to a calculation by the French Hospital Federation, it ensures that“We could have had 12,000 fewer deaths in nursing homes in our country if the private system adopted the same rules as the public system.”
“In the DREES survey, it is thus observed that critical events affect between 11 and 13% of establishments. 11.5% for private non-profits and 13% for private commercial establishments. On the other hand, in public establishments , it is only 7 to 9%, depending on the hospital public or the non-hospital public“, explains Jean-Louis Touraine. “We can therefore say that there were 12,000 unlawful deaths as a result of this system developed by private establishments to accommodate the elderly”accuses the MP.
“I cannot say that this figure is absolutely correct, but even if it was only 10,000, it is 10,000 deaths too many”comments the deputy on Wednesday on franceinfo. “This despite the fact that the public establishments have higher charges than the private ones, and despite the fact that these public establishments have a remuneration, by the residents or their families, which is lower, of course, than what the ‘we have in private’he said.
According to Jean-Louis Touraine, “The explanation is not yet clearly established. The first that come to mind is the even more insufficient medical presence in private establishments and the staff numbers which are also lower in these private establishments. There is a shortage everywhere, but it is even more glaring in several private establishments which may, at least in part, be responsible for this excess mortality.
Finally, he recalls that a “excess mortality from influenza for several years” had been noticed “in private establishments of different kinds in correlation with a much lower vaccination rate for staff and residents in these establishments.”