In Mayotte, the hospital is preparing for an increase in pathologies linked to a lack of drinking water, while facing a staff crisis and during an epidemic of high gastroenteritis.
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The crises overlap in Mayotte. As the country faces a water crisis,The arrival of patients suffering from digestive disorders continues unabated. The gastroenteritis epidemic is considered high this year in Mayotte. But that’s not what worries Alimata Gravaillac, emergency manager at the Mayotte hospital center, the most: “We are in a period of gastro epidemic, like every year. It has arrived at a time when we are a little fragile all the same, and that is my biggest difficulty. With fewer staff in the “hospital and with that, we have this gastro epidemic that we have every year and which can be exacerbated in relation to that.”
>> Mayotte: the Minister of Territorial Cohesion recognizes that the situation is “dramatic”
Visiting the Island, the Minister Delegate for Overseas Affairs Philippe Vigier met health representatives on Wednesday September 27 during a meeting at the Mayotte Hospital Center, an establishment like elsewhere under tension and with a glaring shortage of arms. “The jurisdiction of water is not exercised by theEtat, recalled the Minister Delegate. It is exercised by local authorities and local elected officials. […] We are here, and we pay 100% the invoice’s. We have just launched a six million euro drilling program.”
Efforts for another six to eight weeks
Pfaced with water two days out of three due to cuts, the inhabitants of Mayotte are tempted to make do as best they can and have uncontrolled use of water. “Lthe apprehension we have, underlines Maxime Jean, infectious disease specialist at the Regional Health Agency, is that people who do not have access to water reactivate the wells that may be in the courtyards, go back to the river to collect water for hygiene, but also for cooking and of drink. The main risk corresponds to this use of water which is not controlled, which could be contaminated by infectious agents.
“Another risk is misuse of water which would be poorly stored in trash cans, basins, buckets or even jerry cans, that is to say you fill a 20 liter jerry can and you leave for a week. There is a risk of infectious development inside.”
Maxime Jean, infectious disease specialist at the Regional Health Agencyat franceinfo
LThe Mayotte authorities recommend systematically boiling water before consuming it. The prefect of Mayotte warns that we will have to make efforts for six to eight weeks. He does not rule out further restricting water distribution. The Regional Health Agency also says it is working on the acquisition of vaccines to prevent a certain number of pathologies linked to lack of water: poliomyelitis, typhoid, hepatitis A and cholera.
In Mayotte, the water crisis at the hospital – Report by Véronique Rebeyrotte