The inhabitants of Guyana continue to demand an improvement in the health system and hospital infrastructure.
Guyana has been on a general strike since March 27, and the movement continues. After the roadblocks, a march was organized in Cayenne, the capital, and Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, the second city of the department. The government finally gave in on sending a delegation of ministers. But neither the apologies of the Minister of Overseas, Ericka Bareigts, nor the financial aid proposal released (one billion euros) by Paris have convinced. “We demand 2.5 billion euros straight away,” replied one of the negotiators. The amount of 85 million allocated to health, for example, was considered too low.
To illustrate the dilapidated situation in which this sector finds itself, several residents of Cayenne posted, during the weekend, on social networks photos of the Andrée Rosemon hospital center (CHAR) to raise awareness among politicians but also metropolitan residents on the state of the care establishment. “Would you accept a hospital in this state in Beauvais, Montauban or Vannes?” How can we accept it in Cayenne ”, calls out a Guyanese in a tweet. “Wastewater from the orthopedic toilets flows into the resuscitation rooms”, for his part tells a doctor at theFrance Media Agency.
Would you accept a hospital in this state in Beauvais, Montauban or Vannes? How can we accept it in Cayenne? Solidarity #Guyana pic.twitter.com/3OgchHCssd
– Fred David (@fredavrick) April 3, 2017
Lots of medical evacuations
250,000 French people live in this department, 7,000 km from the capital. But the health care system is underdeveloped there. On the hospital side, 7 hospitals – including two public ones – take care of the population. In 2014, they only offered 380 beds for 100,000 people. It is two times less than in metropolitan France.
However, Cayenne’s permanent care area is the largest in France. And to say that it is used to the extreme is almost an understatement. “There is a huge lack of specialists,” confirms Why actor Félix Ngomba-Wongola, general practitioner in Cayenne. We, general practitioners, do our best to compensate for this lack, and we redirect to the hospital when possible. “
But even in the hospital, the lack is obvious. Neurosurgeons, oncologists, diabetologists… the list of professions that are absent or under strain is long. Result: “we do a lot of medical evacuations to the metropolis and the West Indies”, according to Dr. Ngomba-Wongola.
Trusteeship in 2016
The Court of Auditors took stock of overseas health in 2014. It is cold in the back. Les Sages de la rue Cambon describe the hospital sector as “the backbone of the healthcare system”. But the frame lacks solidity. Few human resources, lack of material investment, lack of services: these are some of the flaws pointed out by the report.
One only has to observe the two main hospitals to be convinced of the extent of the problem. Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni hosts one of the largest maternity hospitals in France. But the service was only renovated in 2014. The Cayenne hospital, meanwhile, was placed under supervision in March 2016.
60 million euros
The complaints were partly heard. In a press release published on March 29, the Minister of Social Affairs and Health and the Minister of Overseas Territories, Marisol Touraine and Ericka Bareigts, announced financial aid intended for hospitals in Guyana. The CHAR of Cayenne will thus receive 20 million euros, released in emergency, in order to “reconstitute its cash flow and settle its current debts without delay”. The establishment will also be able to count on 40 million euros to invest and modernize its tools and premises.
The other hospitals are not to be outdone. In Kourou, the Red Cross agreed not to hand over the premises to a private operator. It remains to define a viable solution for the establishment.
.
