Covid-19: hospitals unable to manage an influx of patients at Christmas according to the DGS


Nina Dorff

According to a note from the General Directorate of Health (DGS), the end-of-year celebrations could be complicated at the hospital due to the resumption of the epidemic. The DGS therefore suggests requisitioning caregivers. This decision made the unions of caregivers, already wrung out by the health crisis, jump.

The fifth wave of Covid-19 has yet to overwhelm hospitals, but things could get worse in the weeks to come. Europe 1 has had access to a note from the Directorate General of Health, which makes a clear statement: in the current state of the workforce, it will be impossible to manage an influx of patients at Christmas. Clearly, this means that doctors and nurses could spend the holidays in the hospital to cope with the lack of staff in the services. The DGS therefore suggests requisitioning caregivers. A decision that risks irritating the health professions, already wrung out by almost two years of health crisis.

A “disaster” for caregivers

This note from the DGS mainly targets emergency services. Since the health crisis, they have been particularly affected by the lack of staff. Arnaud Chiche, from the Santé en danger collective, fears that caregivers will be forced to spend Christmas in the hospital. “The watchword is: emergencies must not close. And so that they do not close, we will requisition doctors. But you know, it will be a disaster, because the doctors who are still in the hospital, they are already staying there while gritting their teeth. When they learn that they will also be requisitioned to go to the emergency room… But help!

The consequences could even be even more serious. Christophe Prudhomme, CGT Health delegate in Seine-Saint-Denis, fears defections among the medical profession. “The requisition, a certain number of personnel risk evading it by disappearing from circulation. It has been two years since we were forced to postpone, to cancel our holidays. Personally, I have a year on my account save time. When will I take them?” he thunders. The unions denounce a bandage measure that will not solve the staff problem in the long term. What they are asking for is a concrete plan to attract staff.



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