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Christophe Prudhomme (emergency physician)
Saturday evening, around 9 p.m., the André-Mignot hospital in the Versailles hospital center was the victim of a cyberattack. A crisis cell has since been opened, the computer system cut off for security reasons and the reception of patients, severely limited.
This large-scale cyberattack on the André-Mignot hospital in the Versailles hospital center was claimed by a group of hackers. It comes just a few months after the Corbeille-Essones hospital.
An attack that paralyzes the functioning of the hospital
At the André-Mignot hospital in Versailles, the attack took place on Saturday evening, December 3, around 9 p.m. It has since led to a disorganization of the services of this establishment, which has nearly 700 beds and 3,000 employees.
The hospital has also decided to transfer two patients and “others are in preparation“according to the Ile-de-France Regional Health Agency, which issued a press release. The hospital has also reduced its emergency room capacity and recalled reinforcement staff, in view of the situation.
An open crisis unit, to restore the situation as quickly as possible
At the same time, the white plan was launched at the André-Mignot hospital, which therefore “partially deprogrammed its activities in the operating room and is doing everything possible to maintain the outpatient care of its patients and the consultations” according to ARS Ile-de-France. A crisis unit has been opened, in order to restore things as quickly as possible, because the hospital is idling.
“You forget the emails, you forget the internet, you communicate the old way, in paper and pencil. The teams are there, the skills are there, most of the healing equipment is working, but the communication is old-fashioned“, testifies to our colleagues from France Info Richard Delepierre, mayor of Chesnay (Yvelines) and co-chairman of the Supervisory Board of the hospital.
“We lack training on this type of attack”
Asked about the hospital’s situation in the face of this type of attack, Christophe Prudhomme, emergency doctor and spokesperson for the Association of Emergency Physicians of France (AMUF), deplores the lack of preparation for this type of event. : “We are sorely lacking in training on this type of attack. We train to deal with all types of disasters but not cyberattacks and here is the result”. According to him, this risk is underestimated by the public authorities.
The doctor also says he is “astonished” by the difficulty of caregivers to go back to paper and pencil. “This is how we operated a few years ago, however” recalls the doctor, who has worked at Samu since the end of the 1980s.
“Medicine is observing, feeling, auscultating your patient to make a diagnosis. The examinations, such as the scanner, are complementary and come in a secondary way, they are not carried out to make a diagnosis but to confirm it.“concludes the paramedic.