At the request of the President of the Republic and the Prime Minister, the General Secretariat for Defense and National Security (SGDSN) presented on Monday 24 November the national prevention and control plan against Ebola.
62 pages thick, the document was sent to the prefects and directors of the Regional Health Agencies (ARS).
According to Louis Gautier, this plan is intended to be “targeted, reactive and adaptable”, and has “a pedagogical value. And if it is intended primarily for government officials and state representatives at the territorial level and abroad, this plan also concerns health professionals, elected representatives of local communities or even the general public. All emergency services, funeral services or even French international transport could also be affected if the disease spread massively in France.
Decision support
In order to best react to the disease, the plan presents three major situations as well as the measures to be put in place for each of them.
In the absence of cases on the territory, the report indicates that we are in the 1st situation: it is a question of limiting the introduction of the virus on the French territory, by setting up reinforced sanitary controls in the airports in particular.
As soon as at least one case is detected, it is a question of limiting the spread of the virus in France, by isolating the person affected and by taking care of those who have been in contact with the patient. Finally, the third situation concerns the risk of contamination of French nationals abroad, in the epidemic area. It is then a question of organizing, if necessary, the preventive or emergency return of expatriates and of informing as much as possible about the risks linked to the epidemic zone.
The plan also sends French nationals a list of the least risky hospitals, where one can get treatment without fear of being contaminated by hemorrhagic fever.
“If our nationals have the feeling that their safety is not taken into account, there will be mass departures,” assures Didier Le Bret, director of the crisis center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before adding that these departures could have significant consequences for the economy of the affected countries.
Prepare for the worst
For Louis Gautier, “you have to prepare for the worse “And to all scenarios, “while staying as close as possible to epidemic reality. In this sense, the designers of the plan tried to identify which structures would be able to accommodate patients if the 13 reference health establishments, equipped with high security isolation rooms, were overloaded.
There are thus about sixty additional beds which could be prepared if necessary.
As a general rule, the plan develops an overall strategy for preventing and combating Ebola, taking into account all the sectors to be strengthened, to “ensure the continuity of social and economic life. »
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