They call on the state to “taking responsibility”. Two weeks after 4,000 caregivers wrote to Emmanuel Macron to denounce the saturation of pediatric hospital services, a delegation was received at the Elysée Palace on Wednesday November 2. They alert on a specialty out of breath, of which the early epidemic of bronchiolitis, a viral respiratory infection which mainly affects children under 2 years old, illustrates the limits.
“It’s only the tip of the iceberg”warns Mélodie Aubart, neuropediatrician at the Necker hospital in Paris. “The bronchiolitis epidemic, we are faced with it every year. But behind it, there is an untenable situation and a bloodless hospital: the Covid-19 has hit us and more and more caregivers are leaving”, specifies Mahmoud Rifai, intern and president of the union of young pediatricians of Ile-de-France. The two doctors, who denounce a lack of staff and deteriorated working conditions, joined the Elysée Palace on foot on Wednesday from Necker hospital, the epicenter of the pediatric crisis.
On Tuesday, during a visit to this establishment, the Minister of Health, François Braun, met with “physically and morally tired teams” by the saturation of pediatric intensive care units in hospitals in the Ile-de-France region. “Thirty-one children were transported out of Ile-de-France”, said the Minister of Health, while all metropolitan regions (with the exception of Corsica, in the pre-epidemic phase) as well as Guadeloupe and Martinique have been placed at the “epidemic” stage by Public Health France, the highest of three alert levels.
Hospitalizations of children in unsuitable places, transfers to other regions, postponements of scheduled surgeries, premature discharge from hospital: caregivers denounce the many consequences of poor care. “We are no longer able to cope with an epidemic peak”summarized Christèle Gras-Le Guen, president of the French Society of Pediatrics, Tuesday on franceinfo.
“There are children who wait 9-10 hours in the emergency room, others who are sent home because more serious cases arrive. But also some who are transferred hundreds of kilometers away for lack of places.”
Mahmoud Rifai, pediatric internat franceinfo
Faced with this epidemic, the executive had to react. The government spokesman and former Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, announced on October 23 a “immediate action plan” with in particular the local activation of “white planes”, which have since been triggered in Bordeaux or Rouen. His successor had promised the same day the release of 150 million euros for the “hospital services under strain”.
“A risk for children”
Measures judged “inadequate” and “cynics” by the Pédiatrie collective which marched towards the Elysée on Wednesday. “We feel like we’re on the titanic, and the government is scooping with a plastic spoon,” regretted Tuesday on franceinfo the neuropediatrician Mélodie Aubart.
“It’s not what will save us, it’s like giving bread to the thirsty”, judge on his side Hiba Trraf. This pediatrician has just resigned from her post as head of the pediatric service at Montluçon hospital (Allier) and denounces a more global crisis.
“There is a massive bleeding of departures and a chronic understaffing, therefore a risk for children and caregivers”, she explains. His dilemma has long been this: “If we go [de l’hôpital] children are endangered. If we stay too. It’s guilt-ridden,” admits the one who is going to move towards humanitarian work. She pleads like her colleagues for a global overhaul of the health system and an increase in wages.
“The public authorities must understand that today, in France, children are poorly treated, for lack of means, lack of caregivers and lack of a health policy worthy of the name”, sums up Isabelle Desguerre, head of the neuropediatrics department at Necker hospital.
The Minister of Health, François Braun, after having promised the launch in the spring of a “big plan” on the future of the sector, muscled its announcements of October, Wednesday. The critical care exercise bonus will, for example, be extended to all caregivers. This monthly aid of 118 euros gross had been requested for several months by caregivers and childcare auxiliaries in intensive care. Instead of the 150 million planned for October, the promised aid package will be “around 400 million euros” for the hospital’s strained services, he added. Without knowing how many will be reserved specifically for pediatric services.