The Minister of Health returned, Thursday, May 12 on BFM, to the end of the compulsory mask, the Covid situation in France but also the future of nursing auxiliaries and the public hospital.
Olivier Véran, who announced the end of the compulsory mask in public places from Monday May 16, made it clear on BFM that “the Covid is not behind us”, adding that “there are 40,000 French people who become contaminated with the BA.2 variant, a patient every quarter of an hour in intensive care, so there are still serious cases […] The situation is under control. »
The mask will however be compulsory “in hospitals or nursing homes. The Minister also said that “the health pass remains appropriate to protect the most vulnerable people” and that if “it is no longer compulsory in transport, [il reste] recommended. According to him, “international specialists say that other variants will appear, first cousins of the Omicron variant. »
Olivier Véran also silenced his detractors, who say that the confinements deprived the country of freedom: “We never applied the methods of confinement of the Chinese for those who said that we restricted freedoms. China has adopted the zero Covid strategy. However, if we are shut in, a variant will be so brave that it will pass the barriers. We have 90% of people vaccinated, that’s what protects us. »
“Preventing the training of doctors for fifty years was a mistake”
He said that “it is possible that we have a new wave that can arrive in the fall. But if we had to put back braking measures, it is because it will be necessary. ” Contrary to politicians like Marine Le Pen, who had said she wanted to reintegrate non-vaccinated and dismissed caregivers as a result, the minister stuck to his positions: ” 40,000 contaminations per day, the virus is still circulating so that the risk that an unvaccinated caregiver passes it on and so we don’t want to take any chances. »
And the medical deserts, the public hospital, severely burned from the previous five-year term? “We lack doctors, medical deserts are dug in our country. We abolished the numerus clausus in 2018, but it takes a certain number of years to train doctors. “Olivier Véran also affirmed that the government has” increased the number of training courses because there is a lack of them. France was prevented from training doctors for fifty years, it is a mistake. »
If he admits that “there is a problem of organization, bureaucracy, fatigue and today there are more caregivers in practice in our hospitals due to the increase in demand. The Minister nevertheless reiterated that France has “extreme quality caregivers with a very strong vocation, modern hospitals [bien que] the pressure on their shoulders is significant. He was also pleased that “the profession most in demand on ParcourSup is nursing, more than 680,000 young people so the vocation survives. »