2024-10-19 12:00:00
The surroundings of the Médipôle, the large ultra-modern hospital in Nouméa, have returned to their normal appearance. Hot spot of the spring uprising, surrounded by pro-independence checkpoints, it had taken on the appearance of a besieged fortress, while the rebels burned, the police officers hit and wounded by bullets from both camps flocked to the emergency room. While the dialysis center building, attacked in the early hours of May 13, remains unused, and two scrapped vehicles are still parked, isolated, in nearby car parks, access is now problem-free.
But the crisis is far from having finished producing its effects within the walls of the hospital complex. La Médipôle, in which the minister responsible for the Overseas Territories, François-Noël Buffet, completed his four-day trip to New Caledonia on Saturday 19 October, is facing a hemorrhage of health workers from which it may not recover.
In the dialysis department, Dr. Nicolas Quirin was waiting for a replacement doctor who did not want to come, and an assistant who was supposed to join the team withdrew. Support capacity has decreased by almost 60%. “In some departments the team resisted, in others it collapsed”comments the doctor.
Vacancies
The neurology department lost two out of five doctors. Five of the ten gynecologists have left and the guards they provided to support the dispensaries in the northern territory can no longer be provided as before. In oncology, worse, the three doctors packed their bags.
Pneumology has shrunk into a small space and the visiting minister occupies a corridor completely emptied of his activity. The service now has only two out of six doctors; closed eighteen beds in June. “We have difficulty monitoring patients. And we are faced with more and more medico-legal problems. Luckily people here aren’t very quarrelsome.”notes Dr. Cristian Boboc.
At the hospital level, many “metropolitan” staff, who represent a quarter of the medical workforce, may want to leave. “Some are trying to sell their homes. Most departures will occur before July, for the start of the school year in September. We fear this period”underlines the president of the medical commission of the institute, Dr. Thierry de Greslan. “We have to cry for what happened. Denial is over, what remains is anger and sadness. » According to this professional, “If departures reach 25% of the workforce, the situation could change and the hospital could collapse. We already see absenteeism increasing”.
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