Caregivers in white coats, representatives of the Collectif Pédiatrie and representatives of associations of parents of sick children left this Wednesday morning from the Necker hospital, on foot to the Élysée, to denounce the crisis that has been going through since hospital pediatric wards for a few weeks. “We have the impression of having been listened to,” said Dr. Mélodie Aubart, neuropediatrician at the Necker-Enfants Malades hospital in Paris, a member of this delegation, after this meeting with an adviser to the President of the Republic.
“Caregivers come home every day feeling like they’ve done their job badly”
“Today, dozens of children are hospitalized in emergency boxes, are transferred several hundred kilometers from their homes, caregivers come home every day feeling like they have done their job badly”, she had explained before this interview. Since the beginning of October, the pediatric emergency and intensive care units of hospitals across the country have been saturated, in particular due to an epidemic of early bronchiolitis. But it “is only the tip of the iceberg”, according to Dr. Aubart.
The collective denounced in an open letter to the Head of State dated October 22 and signed by 7,000 pediatric caregivers “an irresponsible political inaction”. “The public authorities must hear that today, in France, children are poorly treated, for lack of means, lack of carers and lack of a health policy worthy of the name”, explains Isabelle Desguerre, head of the Pediatric Department of Necker Hospital.
“These are not conditions that allow children to be treated properly”
The structural degradation of the resources allocated to pediatric services leads to “a real flight of caregivers”, according to Mélodie Aubart. Like Doctor Hiba Trraf, who has just resigned from her post as head of the pediatric department at Montluçon hospital and who found herself the only doctor in the department after the departure of her six colleagues. “Morally and psychologically exhausted”, she refuses to continue “to endanger the children”.
“The trigger was last winter. With a very large understaffing, we had very busy weeks with working conditions that led my colleague and I to pass right by, a few millimeters, of a disaster. Fortunately, there were none, but I am human and not infallible and I will not go through a winter like last winter. These are not conditions that allow children to ‘to be treated properly,’ she says at the microphone of Europe 1.
The 150 million euros released are “a joke”
The Minister of Health, François Braun, announced the implementation of an “immediate action plan” and the release of 150 million euros for “hospital services under tension”, and promised the organization in the spring of “assizes of pediatrics”. “A joke” for Professor Desguerre. François Braun is due to receive this Wednesday afternoon representatives of the pediatrics sector. The collective denounces the fact that “the same sequence was already conducted by the minister 15 days ago” and “led to no decision or communication”.
Source: Europe1
Brayden White, a veteran sports writer at Global Happening, brings his wealth of knowledge and expertise to the sports section. With over a decade of experience, he is committed to delivering high-quality coverage of the latest games and events.
