The Minister for Health, Frédéric Valletoux, met infectious disease specialist Karine Lacombe on Wednesday April 24 to discuss the “ sexual and moral harassment » of which she accuses emergency physician Patrick Pelloux in a recent survey of Paris Match. The article quickly triggered a wave of reactions and new testimonies. The minister will receive representatives of professionals and interns on Monday with a view to a plan to combat sexual violence in hospitals.
Guest of France InterFrédéric Valletoux declared bringing together “all the actors including the internal ones, but not only, on April 29” Then “all Orders (doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, etc.) at the beginning of May”. The objective is to “start on concrete paths, concrete proposals within a few weeks”he said. “The culture of impunity (…) It’s over. There will be zero tolerance. »
“The idea is that we ensure that (…) in hospitals, everyone can put an end to this atmosphere, this culture, this behavior, this sexist and sexual violence which has undoubtedly characterized certain establishments too much. (…) and thus turn the page on this sad period”, he detailed. But “we are not starting from zero, there are already things being done”. Furthermore, the delegate minister indicated not “ wanting to cast stones only at the hospital, because it is the health system in general that must be looked at”.
In addition to direct testimonies of attacks, many caregivers have denounced a “rifle culture” And “patriarchal” installed in the hospital, favorable to sexist and sexual violence. “We really have a culture of silence. It is only very recently that listening cells have been set up” to report deviant behavior, Karine Lacombe emphasized on Wednesday April 24 on RFI.
But even today, “unless there are really attitudes that constitute a crime (…) we will rather tend to try to resolve the matter within the institution, possibly by moving the people concerned”she regretted.