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Guest of the RTL-Le Figaro-LCI Grand Jury on Sunday November 20, François Braun, Minister of Health, returned to several thorny points of this fall. Back to the main topics discussed.
As so often, the fall, with its viruses, its epidemics and its social context, is a period of tension in the health sector. 2022 is no exception, quite the contrary. Between a sharp epidemic of bronchiolitis, and the question of non-vaccinated and non-reintegrated caregivers, the pressure on hospitals is going up a notch. Guest of the Grand Jury RTL-Le Figaro-LCI this Sunday, November 20, the Minister of Health François Braun, in office for 6 months, presented his point of view, trying to reassure on a health system “which is good, but needs to be rebuilt”.
Reintegrating unvaccinated caregivers: an ethical issue
With regard to the reintegration of non-vaccinated nursing staff, mentioned as a solution to relieve tensions in hospitals, the minister remained firm on these positions, and on the refusal opposed to this idea.
“There are 1,050 nurses out of the 300,000. There is a health issue and a professional ethics issue” he mentioned, first addressing a health security problem.
“Do we accept that people who are not sufficiently protected are close to the most fragile people? Coupled with a concern for professional ethics. “VSIt comes back from the vaccinated caregivers who tell us that those who were not there to help us will come back”he detailed.
The Minister of Health announced that he had contacted the High Authority for Health in order to render his opinion “at the beginning of the year” on compulsory vaccinations as well as the National Advisory Council on Ethics which will also give an opinion on the matter. Anyway, according to the minister, the debate seems quite sterile: “This is not what will solve the hospital crisis”.
Drug shortages: a problem solved in the coming weeks
On the subject of the shortage of paracetamol and amoxicillin which is increasing in pharmacies at the dawn of winter, the Minister of Health wanted to be reassuring about restocking.
The shortage of paracetamol in pharmacies will be solved “in the coming weeks” and that of the antibiotic amoxicillin will be “in the weeks, the months to come”he claimed, confirming, an inventory tension problem at the moment.
For paracetamol, “pharmacists have limited the number of boxes since it is a product that can be given without a prescription, we have called on manufacturers in the sector to increase production chains, which work seven days a week and 24 hours a day”.
More uncertain, amoxicillin, the main antibiotic prescribed in many infections such as angina, especially in children, the return to normal is, him “harder” to say, even if the term of weeks or months to come seems probable”. Here again the Minister claimed to have remobilized the entire sector, and prohibited the resale of amoxicillin to other countries.
Bronchiolitis: a shift in the epidemic
Where is the bronchiolitis epidemic? The question was also put to François Braun, who wished to be reassuring about this outbreak of cases which is occurring at this very moment in France.
“The data from Public Health France show a shift for a week” he mentioned, while deeming it good not to “rejoice too quickly”, while the epidemic could still put the specialized services under high tension in the coming weeks.
However, the Minister once again denied the “put to danger” children and thesorting” little patients.
“It is not a question of choosing who is going to be treated or not. In fact, doctors prioritize patients based on their health needs. The children who must be hospitalized are, sometimes in another hospital because we do not always have room, not always the right technical platforms to respond.
The white plan triggered must continue to allow “make everyone work together” to respond to this crisis, he concluded.