Only one health: veterinarians in France responded overwhelmingly to the call of the Ministries of Health and Agriculture to lend a hand to doctors in the fight against Covid-19. France has 18,000 veterinarians registered with the Order, of which 12,000 are self-employed.
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“ We were asked to make a census of veterinarians to register them in the health reserve in order to know the volunteers. Today we have more than 5,000 veterinarians, including 784 in Ile-de-France registered, "said AFP Bruno Tessier, president of Ile-de-France veterinarians, himself a candidate for reinforcement.
“ For the moment we have donated equipment but we have not yet been mobilized. The list has not been activated and we are waiting for us to be asked to participate, ”adds the veterinarian at Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne). In this health reserve, the veterinarian “would come in first rank support, because it is complicated for veterinarians to be on the front line.
We are not doctors of human medicine, ”he believes. On the other hand, according to him, the veterinarian can exercise the profession of stretcher bearer but especially make telephone regulation, like the doctors of the Samu.
" We know how to respond to people who have symptoms of coronavirus, to do medical interrogations then to sort and make a decision, " he said. As for the nursing profession, “ there are gestures that veterinarians can do and others do not. A nurse in an intensive care unit is complicated because the nurse in this service is highly specialized . ”
“ We know how to intubate animals but can we intubate people? They are not the same techniques. It would be possible with training and it would take a lot of time, "he judges, hammering" no one talks about veterinarians on the front line . " We are at the disposal of the ARS who will judge our skills, " he said. Animal doctors gave hospitals " everything that was loanable ": respirators and syringe pumps, " essential " to open a bed in intensive care. They also sent monitors, in addition to gowns and masks, which are used to monitor a patient's oxygen level and blood pressure.
They also supplied Ehpad with oxygen concentrators. " These electrical boxes release air enriched with oxygen at around 94%, not usable in intensive care but useful in certain rooms for the elderly ". As for veterinarians from other regions of France, they also make equipment available but "there is no question of stripping them because each region will have its needs when the Covid-19 has gained ground ".
According to the French Veterinary Academy (AVF), producers of animal tests and veterinary laboratories could also provide valuable assistance in the detection of Covid-19. “ A huge potential for the production of PCR & serological kits and analysis which only needs to be mobilized to save lives! “, Argues Jean-Luc Angot, the president of the AVF.
Professionals already confronted with foot and mouth disease or bluetongue, avian flu, swine fever ... Extremely contagious diseases, notes Jeanne Brugère-Picoux of the National Academy of Medicine. But in France, " a veterinary laboratory does not have the right to make tests when it is a product of human origin ", explains the veterinarian who denounces " an aberrant monopoly created a few years ago ".
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" 70% of diseases are common to humans and animals, " she adds. A ban absent " in several Member States of the European Union (Germany, Belgium, Italy ...) ", recalls the National Academy of Medicine which, in a press release, requests the issue of an exceptional authorization. " We have to look at how far we can lift these bans, it is something that requires a little education, it is being carried out, " said Prime Minister Edouard Philippe on Saturday. But " for the moment we have no return, " says Jean-Luc Angot.
