Guest of franceinfo on February 16, Olivier Véran had been questioned about the use by his ministry of private consulting firms. Un book-survey estimates that the government has spent between 1.5 billion and three billion euros per year on contracts with private consulting firms. 47 orders have been placed by the Ministry of Health.
“Our country was at war. When you have to equip a TGV in 48 hours to transport intubated patients, you are happy to find people who have the skills to do so. They are in the private sector, they are not in the ‘administration”replied Olivier Véran on franceinfo.
These remarks by the Minister of Health aroused emotion and denials, in particular from the Inter-hospital Collective (CIH). In a press release published on Thursday, the CIH recalled that “inter-regional transfers of patients were organized and carried out by the army, the fire brigade, the SNCF and the Samu”.
Of which act: in a statement sent to AFP by his cabinet, the Minister of Health “would like to apologize to all the professionals mobilized for this unfortunate sentence and to remind them of all its gratitude”. Olivier Véran specifies that these transfers “by TGV medicalized in 2020 at the height of the crisis were by the services of the ministry, the ARS (Regional Health Agencies), health establishments, the SNCF, the Samu and many public actors who allowed through their expertise the design and implementation of this unprecedented operation.”
During the first rail evacuations in March 2020, the Ministry of Health had communicated well on these operations which were prepared according to him by “the Samu de Paris, the APHP (Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris), the SNCF and approved Civil Security associations”.
More generally, on the use of private consulting firms, the Minister mentioned the sum of “25 million euros” for private practices “on 30 billion of expenses. I recognize and claim it”. Behind the criticism of this recourse to the private sector, “what there is is that the private, it would be dirty”retorted Olivier Véran. “What I looked for during this health crisis was efficiency.”
For Matthieu Aron, author with Caroline Michel-Aguirre of the book-investigation Infiltrators. How consulting firms took control of the stateguest of franceinfo Friday, “what we hear behind is a minister convinced that, if we were to do something exceptional and good, we would necessarily have to call on the private sector and that the civil servants would not be able to do it themselves. same”. The journalist points “a whole series of duplicates. A State which has skills in its services and which nevertheless prefers, because it would always be better in the private sector, to call on these consulting firms”.