But where are they? On March 17 and 18, a new wave of 12.3 million masks came out of state stocks, heading to the 21,000 French pharmacies for hand delivery to health professionals on presentation of their card. A large distribution operated between Tuesday and Thursday by the carrier Geodis, at the request of Public Health France, an agency of the Ministry of Health.
"A delivery man arrived with a box, I stamped the slip, quickly, between two customers before I realized that we had not delivered what was written, says Béatrice Clairaz, pharmacist in Châtenay-Malabry (Hauts -de-Seine). It was stated that the package weighed 2 kg. In fact, it only weighed 200g. Of the ten boxes of 50 masks I should have received, I only had two. And I'm not the only one in this case. We will be wrongly accused of retaining ”, already fears the pharmacist.
In Clamart, in Nice, in Montpellier, in the department of the Loire… the testimonies of pharmacists multiply evoking at best a partial delivery. Alerted, Gilles Bonnefond, the president of the National Union of Community Pharmacists (USPO), made a report on Wednesday to the Ministry of Health. And rumors of theft have started to spread, especially on social media.
"No theft was found"
Since then, the USPO has probed its troops to try to understand. “1900 pharmacists answered us, explains Gilles Bonnefond this Friday evening. 10% claim to have received nothing and half have not received any FFP2 mask, those expected by healthcare professionals. ” Extrapolating, this would mean that more than 2,000 pharmacies have not received any masks and that only 10,500 out of the 21,000 have FFP2 masks. When questioned, the ministry did not follow up. On the other hand, the management of Geodis, "affected" by the questions which circulate, explained itself.
"We have launched internal investigations and no theft has been found," said the transport group. We have been mandated by Santé Publique France to deliver 21,000 boxes between Tuesday and Thursday. Then we were asked to make adjustments to take account of changing needs. We had to unpack products, some of which were delivered in plastic bags. All this can explain the variable quantities delivered. With delivery notes that have not been changed in time. The orders change almost every hour, "defends Geodis where the staff is mobilized" night and day "on this mission.
"We wonder if there is not a problem with files that are not up to date," says Gilles Bonnefond. In the field, it is the incomprehension of health professionals who left empty-handed.
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VIDEO. All about protective masks
