The Valognes SMUR reopened this Saturday, after nine days of closure due to a shortage of doctors, but the hospital’s emergency department remains closed.
Relief in Valognes, a small town of 7,000 inhabitants located in the Channel. The SMUR (Mobile Emergency and Resuscitation Service) of the hospital reopened this Saturday, August 15 at 8:30 a.m., after a week and a half of shutdown, reports France 3 Regions. But not enough to ease tensions so far.
Sanitary risks
Indeed, the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Lower Normandy had to close the emergency reception service in Valognes due to a shortage of doctors. The service, which should have operated with 25 doctors, was down to fifteen, an insufficient number to ensure continuous care, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
These closures angered elected officials, unions and residents of the surrounding area, who pointed to the health risks incurred in such a situation. Indeed, the patients were taken care of by the SMUR Cherbourg, 20 kilometers north of Valognes. Numerous meetings have taken place over the past week, in which everyone has expressed their dissatisfaction and concerns.
“We put people’s lives in danger,” denounced the mayor of Valognes, Jacques Coquelin, quoted by AFP. Imagine someone having a heart attack in Utah Beach. To get to Cherbourg, it takes at least 45 minutes, or even a little more if there is heavy traffic, the hospital being in the city center. Do you think he will survive? “
Emergencies, always closed
In Valognes, “the population is very, very, very recovered, explained to AFP deputy Philippe Gosselin, who finds that the ARS could have better anticipated certain recruitments. Closing a post office is one thing, but there is a vital aspect ”.
The reactivation of the SMUR was made possible thanks to the mobilization of the doctors of the Hospital Center as well as to new temporary offers. However, the emergency service was unable to reopen. However, more staff will be needed than what was necessary to relaunch the SMUR. A new demonstration will take place in front of the Valognes hospital on Saturday August 22, at 11 a.m., to denounce this closure. The elected officials of Nord-Cotentin believe that this closure “is not the result of a desire to save money at the Cotentin Hospital Center, but a difficulty in recruiting staff during the summer period”, reports West France.
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