Covid-19: a “very worrying” situation in hospitals in Ile-de-France

Wave-submersion alert in Île-de-France. The regional health agency (ARS) of Île-de-France has asked the Ile-de-France health establishments “to deprogram as much of the surgical and medical activities as possible” from Monday, due to the influx of Covid patients. With 4,044 Covid patients hospitalized, this Thursday, December 30, including 732 in critical care, “the situation is very worrying”, underlines the ARS in a message sent to all hospitals and clinics in the region, and which AFP has obtained copy.

The “level 2”, corresponding to “50% of critical care beds occupied by Covid patients”, is about to be crossed “in the coming days”. To make matters worse, the establishments are also under “very strong tensions on human resources”, in particular nurses, and the “epidemic peak on the flu”.

Oncology, transplants or cardiac surgery preserved

So many reasons which led the ARS to ask “to deprogram the maximum of the surgical and medical activities (including ambulatory) programmed next week which can be it”, while preserving “for the moment” certain specialties like oncology , transplants, cardiac surgery, pediatrics and nephrology.

Sacrifices “necessary” in order to “reassign staff and open new beds to accommodate new Covid patients”, knowing that “the peak of the wave will arrive at the end of January / beginning of February” according to the forecasts of the Institut Pasteur, “this which means that the establishments must hold out for several more weeks “.

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The Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP) had already ordered their heads of service on Wednesday to “limit the activity scheduled for next week to treatments for which a vital prognosis is at stake, with the maintenance as far as possible transplantation activities “.

The largest French hospital group is facing “extremely strong tensions”, as evidenced by “critical care beds all occupied”, but also the number of calls to the Samu “considerably higher than usual” at the end of the day. year and “the number of stretcher beds in the emergency departments regularly above 100 in the morning”.