According to the latest figures from the Institute for Public Health Surveillance (InVS) based on the Sentinelles network of doctors, two million French people have caught the flu since the start of winter, and 72 people have died. The epidemic being particularly strong this year, the Ministry of Health therefore launched this Thursday, February 19 the ORSAN plan (organization of the offer of care in exceptional health situations).
This specific plan encourages the activation of “hospital under pressure” and “white plan” systems, which should make it possible to deprogram non-essential activities, open additional beds, call back staff and strengthen the medical teams in the hospitals. institutions in difficulty. The care of the sick in town should also be encouraged, to reserve hospitalizations for emergency situations.
Marisol Touraine, who went to the Lariboisière Hospital in Paris on Thursday evening, recalled “the importance of vaccinationinfluenza, especially for the elderly and health personnel, ”stressing that the peak of the epidemic was not yet reached. In January and February, several instructions had already been sent to regional health agencies and establishments to deal with the epidemic.
A measure at the request of overburdened hospitals
Shortly before the announcement of the ministry on Thursday, emergency physicians denounced “the critical health situation” in overcrowded hospitals due to the epidemic and called on the government to reopen beds.
The “oversaturation of emergency services is comparable to that of the summer of 2003” during the heatwave, which had killed 15,000, estimated President Samu-Urgences François Braun to AFP, calling for the ORSAN plan .
“We ask that hospitals reopen beds immediately and that the quality of care be the best possible to manage this winter situation,” said the Association of Emergency Physicians (Amuf) for its part.
Last week (February 9 to 15), the Sentinel network reported 600,000 new cases in France. According to the InVS, the epidemic peak should be reached in the coming days, before seeing a decrease in the number of new cases.
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