“The hospital is no longer able to absorb an influx of patients”, regrets a pediatric surgeon

“Our hospital is no longer able to absorb an influx of patients”regrets Thursday, November 10 on franceinfo Professor Jean-Luc Jouve, pediatric surgeon, while the number of hospitalizations for bronchiolitis has reached an unprecedented level “for more than 10 years“, according to Public Health France. In response, the government launched a national emergency plan on Wednesday for exceptional health situations.

>> INFOGRAPHICS. Bronchiolitis: visualize the early and large-scale start of the epidemic in France

“Whether it’s the Covid, whether it’s the heat wave, summer or whether it’s bronchiolitis, winter, we can no longer absorb a peak of activity”insisted the one who is also president of the medical commission of establishment of the Public Assistance of the Hospitals of Marseilles (AP-HM) and member of the collective Inter-Hôpitaux. “The priority for us is to finally have a sustainable reinforcement plan for the hospital”, he says. This is all the more necessary as “the scenario repeats itself every time” on “Things that are completely predictable, like bronchiolitis, which happens in the winter every time on the same date, or thereabouts.”

In the immediate future, the national emergency plan for exceptional health situations triggered by the government is “the only answer”in view of “the state in which the hospital is”, believes Jean-Luc Jouve. However, he fears the possible consequences, because this plan may result in the recall of hospital staff. “We are afraid of a negative effect which will be a still somewhat marked exhaustion of the staff. And when we say ‘recall of caregivers’, which caregivers? Childcare workers, resuscitators, we don’t find them like that,” he points out.