Pediatric emergencies, vaccination against influenza and Covid-19, puff: François Braun, the Minister of Health and Prevention answered questions from Géraldine Mayr and Jimmy Mohamed this Friday in Hello doctor
on France Bleu. He refuted the term “pediatrics crisis” and pointed the finger”a hospital crisis” and called on families not to rush to the emergency room in the midst of a bronchiolitis epidemic
. He asks them to dial 15 or go to a general practitioner so as not to overload the emergency services. He also warned of the dangers of puff, these electronic cigarettes popular with young people.
“It is a crisis of our hospital, of our health service”
Last week, the Minister of Health announced the release of an envelope of 150 million euros
for services under strain in the hospital and in particular in paediatrics while 4,000 pediatric caregivers sent an open letter to Emmanuel Macron
to deplore unsuitable working conditions and care, the results of a “irresponsible political inaction”. For the Minister of Health, “this pediatric crisis is not a pediatric crisis, it is a crisis of our hospital, of our health service. I know it well, we have been living with it for years and years” he explained on France Bleu. _”This crisis comes from a policy carried out for ten years” _assured this former head of emergencies in the east of France.
Don’t rush to the emergency room
However, the Minister assures that he “there is no sorting of children” to pediatric emergencies as a member of the National Assembly had assured. “When we say sort, it means taking some and not taking others. However, this is not what is happening. Our system takes care of all the children, all the sick”. On the other hand, François Braun asks parents not to automatically go to the emergency room : “Everything cannot be resolved by going to the emergency room. The emergency room should not be the entrance for everything. The majority of bronchiolitis are benign” he explained.
“We don’t go to the emergency room for bronchiolitis” – François Braun
François Braun explains thatpriority should be given to general practitioners for bronchiolitis: “These bronchiolitis must be taken care of by city doctors. We don’t go to the emergency room for bronchiolitis!”. According to him, the Samu allows families to be referred: “It’s very distressing bronchiolitis, it’s normal. But in this case, we phone the Samu, we call 15. At that time we have a professional, a doctor on the phone. Some Samu even have put pediatricians on the phone who will give the right advice”.
Regulation by 15 “will breathe life into the hospital”
For the Minister of Health, regulation by the 15 “will breathe life into the hospital“, and even allowed reduce emergency room attendance by 5 to 6% this summer, a first for twenty years. “We forget too much that France is still a country where, at any time of day or night, wherever you are, you have a doctor. In a few minutes on the phone, by dialing 15. This n It’s not sorting, it’s simply offering people the best solution to their health problems. If you have pain in your chest, this SAMU doctor will be able to assess whether it may be a heart attack or simply a anxiety attack”. François Braun also explained that new technologies allow patients to be better taken care of: “We can even, with this medical regulation of the SAMU, use your smartphone, your mobile phone and see with the camera of your mobile phone. So, we can add sight to hearing”.
People go to the emergency room because they don’t know that there is a doctor potentially available near them. It is the interest of this medical regulation which has this information“Wished to specify the Minister of Health.
Increase the number of medical assistants
But how to get closer to a general practitioner when the French do not necessarily have access to general practitioners? In a report published in March 2021, the Dress reports that the number of doctors will be constant until 2030. This report estimates that we will have 1.5% more doctors until 2050. “Doctors will have to work differently” explained the minister. “A doctor spends 20% of his time doing administrative work, a hospital doctor is more like 50%” lamented François Braun_. “Medical assistants have allowed doctors to increase the number of patients per doctor by 10%, it’s huge”_ assured the minister. “In all the territories where there is a need, we are going to put medical assistants” promised the minister on France Bleu.
“Get vaccinated, Get vaccinated”
“Get vaccinated, get vaccinated” launched the minister on the antenna of France Bleu “I say it twice because you have to get vaccinated when you are fragile against Covid and against the flu. You have to do it now and at the same time” assures François Braun. But then which vaccine for the recall? “A versatile vaccine that protects against Omicron, since the variants currently circulating are children and grandchildren of Omicron” explained François Braun to the most fragile people. According to him there is no need to be wary of the new BQ1.1 variant, a sub-variant of Omicron: “we know him because he comes from BA.5 but he has no more serious pathology”.
“The puff leads young people to smoke”
“I am committed to tackling these products that lead our young people to smoking” promised the Minister of Health François Braun in Bonjour Docteur. the puff, very popular with teenagers
, are electronic cigarettes with a sweet and disposable taste. They worry the Minister of Health. “It’s a very good thing when the goal is to quit smoking” but “the objective is not to start smoking. However, unfortunately, this puff brings our young people towards these 70,000 deaths per year”.