“We have a solid health system”, assures François Braun before a new summer which promises to be difficult in the emergency room

The Minister of Health, François Braun, affirmed, Wednesday June 7, to approach with “firmness” but also “serenity” a new summer that promises to be tense in the emergency services. It must be said that the holidays exacerbate the problems of congestion each year, accentuated this year by a conflict with the interim doctors. “We have a solid health system, and we have emergency services that have shown their ability to deal with difficulties”estimated the former emergency doctor in front of journalists, on the sidelines of the Emergencies 2023 congress, organized by the French Society of Emergency Medicine and Samu-Urgences de France.

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The exact effect of the latent strike of certain temporary doctors, furious to see their remuneration capped since April, is difficult to measure, recognized the minister. “There are services in difficulty, but they were already in difficulty before”, he noted. “Simply we have much more increased, acute monitoring of these services and I continue to see this very closely with the Regional Health Agencies”he assured.

A situation “worse than last year”

The situation is however “worse than last year”believes for his part Karim Tazarourte, the president of the French Society of Emergency Medicine, during a press conference at the opening of Emergencies 2023. The emergency services will be able to “guaranteeing citizens access to urgent care, but what we can no longer guarantee is access for all comers, any pathology”he added.

And in some tourist areas where the population is low in normal times, “it will become very complex” to be able to guarantee access to an emergency doctor, “apart from the helicopter reinforcement”he warned. “We have territories where the summer is going to be very complicated to pass”.