François Braun will try to appease the anger that is rising among pediatricians. For this, the Minister of Health will receive this Wednesday the professionals of this medical specialty to work on the future of this sector in crisis.
“I am seeing all the pediatrics professionals tomorrow to work with them on this overhaul not only of the hospital as a whole, but also of this child health sector,” the minister said on Tuesday. outcome of a visit to the Necker-Enfants Malades hospital in Paris. “A big plan” on the future of this sector will be proposed in the spring, he added.
An early outbreak of bronchiolitis
Pediatric emergency services are currently plunged into a crisis linked to unsatisfactory working conditions and a lack of personnel. In this context, they face an early epidemic of bronchiolitis, a respiratory disease that affects babies and sometimes leads them to hospital.
This situation has led to the saturation of pediatric resuscitation services in Ile-de-France hospitals, which organize patient transfers. “Today we are at 31 children transported outside the Ile-de-France region”, in full “peak” of the bronchiolitis epidemic, said François Braun. The families of these transferred children will be “taken care of”, as was the case during the transfers of Covid-19 patients at the height of the health crisis, he specified.
“Cynical” measures, according to the Pediatrics collective
On October 22, a collective of 7,000 pediatric caregivers sent an open letter to Emmanuel Macron to deplore unsuitable working conditions and care, the results of “irresponsible political inaction”. The government responded by announcing an “immediate action plan” and releasing 150 million euros for “hospital services under strain”. He has not yet specified how much of the envelope will go to pediatric services. “Inadequate” and “cynical” measures according to the Pediatrics collective, which wants to go to the Elysee Palace this Wednesday to deliver a letter to the Head of State.