The little sentence dropped, at the turn of an interview on France Inter, by the director general of Public Assistance - Hospitals of Paris (AP-HP), says a lot. Asked about the risk of a resumption of the Covid-19 epidemic, Martin Hirsch admitted, Thursday July 23, that he had been “summoned” by the Minister of Health Olivier Véran so that we “accelerate” on saliva tests, in particular.
"It is normal that we are put under pressure," he admitted. Pressure " ? According to a witness, the scene which took place on July 22 was stormy. "The minister blew a hose," recalls a source. That day, Olivier Véran brought together several managers of the AP-HP. Some went to the ministry, others are present by videoconference.
. @ MartinHirsch on the #Covid epidemic in Île de France #IDF:
"In the past month, things are going up slowly, but continuously. It is normal that we put pressure on the # barrier gestures "# public hospital # caregivers @ LN_Roussel44 # le69inter pic.twitter.com/NrUfeAPnL3
The Minister wants to take stock with them on the development of EasyCov, a rapid and promising process, supported by public funding. Developed by a start-up in Montpellier attached to the CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research), Sys2Diag, it gives an answer in less than an hour from a simple sample under the patient's tongue.
An accumulated delay and some reluctance
It has been several weeks since Olivier Véran asked the AP-HP to carry out large-scale tests on sick patients, considering that the public establishment, with its 39 hospitals in Paris and in the inner suburbs, is armed to that. This step is essential before any marketing.
Faced with the accumulated delay and the reluctance of certain doctors, skeptical about the process, Olivier Véran then got angry: "We are at war against the virus and you tell us that we must still wait, it is not possible", he thunders in front of those responsible.
At the end of this meeting, it was finally decided that the AP-HP will send saliva samples from patients in Ile-de-France infected with Covid-19 to the start-up in Montpellier. Which will be responsible for submitting them to the EasyCov process to assess the reliability of the process. Olivier Véran has promised to reconvene the bosses of the AP-HP soon.