The big coronavirus epidemic passed, many doctors take the floor to denounce the lack of equipment and the promises not kept by the government. At the forefront of criticism: the management of masks.
- SOS Médecins estimates that 16% of its doctors are infected and the Order of Physicians estimates that around thirty private practitioners have died in France, figures below the reality.
- The government has promised masks for doctors but these have been slow to arrive, leaving caregivers alone to deal with the virus.
- A surge of solidarity between citizens has enabled many doctors to benefit from masks.
- 600 caregivers have filed a complaint against Olivier Véran, Minister of Health.
On the front line facing the coronavirus epidemic alongside hospitals, general practitioners have decided to make their voices heard to denounce the lack of protection they have benefited from to face the epidemic. “We went into battle with nothing”, summarizes bitterly Jean-Paul Ortiz, doctor in Perpignan and president of the Confederation of French medical unions (CSMF), at Why doctor. There are no precise data on the number of liberal doctors infected and dead during the Covid-19 epidemic. SOS Médecins estimates that 16% of its doctors are infected and the Order of Physicians estimates that around thirty private practitioners have died in France. “A figure probably below the realityexplains the vice-president of the National Council of the Order of Physicians, Jean-Marcel Mourgues, to the investigation unit of Radio France, because the departmental councils of the Order are not systematically informed by the families of the cause of death.”
“Deaths for France”
When the epidemic broke out, national mask stocks were far too low to protect all caregivers. “There were 130 million surgical masks available at the start of the epidemic, whereas a few years earlier, when Roseline Bachelot was Minister of Health, there were 1 billion surgical masks in reserve and 700 million FFP2regrets Jean-Paul Ortiz. What has happened in the meantime and, above all, why have these stocks not been renewed? These are questions to which the government must provide a clear answer to caregivers. There have been deaths for France.”
At the same time, the government launched the promise to make masks available to all caregivers, from the start of the health crisis. “We got a little carried awaynotes the president of the CSMF. Every week we were told that the following Monday there would be 12 masks available per caregiver in the pharmacies but each time there was nothing and we had to wait about two weeks.” If the government has defaulted, Jean-Paul Ortiz points to a chain of solidarity that has been set up to make up for this lack. Carpenters, dental surgeons, construction workers, waste workers…”Many helped and voluntarily showed up to offer us protective masks”, applauds the doctor.
Doctors complained
Not everyone was able to benefit from this outpouring of solidarity and suffered from the lack of protection. This is for example the case of Didier Benovici, general practitioner in Paris who died during the coronavirus crisis. Refusing to close his office when the epidemic was at its highest, he did not resist the virus. “My father wanted to be tested, but he was refused, because he had no symptomstells his daughter Aurélie to Radio France. The days that followed, he had a small cough. He took a test which was positive. He was quickly transferred to the Lariboisière hospital. His lungs were badly attacked. His condition deteriorated rapidly and he died after three weeks in intensive care”.
The big epidemic wave passed, the doctors have a bitter taste towards the management of the crisis by the State. “They told us we were going to have masks and we didn’t. They took a good month to be honestfulminates Jean-Paul Hamon, of the Federation of Doctors of France, to Radio France. They never told us they ran out of masks. They were completely on the street. They ended up explaining to us that hundreds of millions of masks had been ordered, but that since they were mainly made in Wuhan, they were having difficulty sourcing them because the whole world was asking for them..”
Some doctors have chosen to file a complaint, supported by more than 600 health personnel, against Olivier Véran, the Minister of Health. Complaints against Agnès Buzyn, the former Minister of Health, and Prime Minister Édouard Philippe have also been filed. For his part, Jean-Paul Ortiz will not go that far but he intends to have clear answers. “I’m logical to understand what happenedhe announces. It is the entire decision-making and organizational chain that must be reviewed so that this does not happen again..”
