The French government has not put enough efforts into hospital reform in recent years, unveiling the flaws of the French health care system amid the coronavirus crisis, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th May, 2020) The French government has not put enough efforts into hospital reform in recent years, unveiling the flaws of the French health care system amid the coronavirus crisis, Health Minister Olivier Veran said on Wednesday.
The hospital reform is included "Ma sante 2022" strategy, which was adopted in France in 2019. According to the French Health Ministry, it proposes an overall vision and global responses to the challenges that the country's health system faces, including the work of hospitals and medical workers.
"We [French government] made the right diagnosis, we took right directions. But we were neither fast enough nor strong enough," Veran said at the end of the council of ministers, adding that the French health care system was "not effective enough" as the coronavirus crisis began.
The minister stressed that the government should implement "large-scale" and "to some extent radical" measures in order to improve the health care system.
Veran repeated some parts of a plan of the upcoming hospital reform he had presented last Sunday. In particular, it includes salary increases for hospital staff and reduction of working hours.
The health minister also announced that he will hold "Segur de la sante," a series of consultations with the actors of the health system, starting on May 25. Coordinated by the former head of the CFDT [French Democratic Confederation of Labor] Nicole Notat, it will carry out conclusions necessary for understanding of what has to be either improved or preserved in the French health system, he indicated.
Veran also commented on the lifting of lockdown restrictions since May 11. He noted that it is too early to understand whether the circulation of the virus has slowed down or not amid easing coronavirus related measures. Alas, it is important to "remain vigilant" and respect necessary safety measures, he added.
As of Wednesday, France has registered 180,933 COVID-19 cases with 28,025 related fatalities.
