To repeat or risk infecting others? The dilemma of Covid-positive medical candidates

Going into the second year of medicine is no easy task.

But to overcome the obstacle this year at the University of Saint-Etienne, it will not only be necessary to master kilometers of handouts on the fingertips: it will especially not have the Covid-19.

The Saint-Etienne faculty has in fact not made a specific examination room available to positive candidates who would attempt the tough competition, in accordance with the recommendations of the Directorate General for Higher Education and Professional Integration (DGESIP).

The only option for sick students is to come, at the risk of infecting their classmates, or repeat.

An additional anxiety after a particularly difficult year.

Thibault * has just finished his “biostatistics” test.

The last test of the ultra-selective competition to try to get a passage in the second year of medicine.

Among the 600 "P1" of the Saint-Etienne faculty, who like him had been planking since Monday, he knows that some have come despite their Covid-19 infection.

“Honestly, I understand that positive people take the risk of entering the competition.

They are doing everything to avoid repeating this year, which is very difficult on all fronts, ”he confides.

In this university, it is indeed the only other alternative for positive students: to retype, after months of revisions, in a particularly difficult context.

“We work hard for a semester where we sacrifice our social life and sometimes even our sleep.

And five days from the fateful moment, five days from the moment when we clearly play our year, such news falls on us.

As if it was obvious to say

.

And while some feel that it is an easy decision to make and that it is necessary to put the health and protection of others first, for a medical student it is surely one of the most important decisions. harder to take, because no one would want to relive a year like this one, believe me, ”insists Clara *, educated in Saint-Etienne.

A national instruction

The situation is all the more ubiquitous in that in September, during partial tests, and in October, during continuous assessment tests, a specific room was made available for sick students.

Why not have renewed the device?

The management of the University of Saint-Etienne did not respond to our requests.

According to officials contacted by Le Parisien, it all started with an instruction sent in the middle of last week to all university deans in France, via an email that we were able to consult.

"Regarding competitions in health disciplines, students who could not take a test due to isolation may benefit from the cancellation of their academic year and take the competition the following year without having exhausted one of the opportunities offered (Editor's note: students are entitled to two attempts in normal times) to apply, ”writes the Director General of Higher Education and Professional Integration.

When contacted, she confirms that “the organization of examinations and competitions in higher education follows the recommendations of the interministerial crisis unit, which itself is based on changes in the health situation.

This is how the very rigorous sanitary protocol that had been put in place during the first wave was renewed with some modifications including, for example, the need to keep the mask on throughout the event.

There are no derogatory measures for students who would need to be isolated because of Covid-19, ”she said in a handwritten response.

Consequence: "preventive and isolation measures must therefore prevail before the date of the competition".

READ ALSO>

"We are all going to screw up": the anguish of first year medical students

“What is happening in Saint-Etienne is what is required of all the faculties by the State,” reminds the Parisian Philippe Diot, president of the conference of deans of medicine and dean of the faculty of Tours.

But what will become of the students between January and September?

“This is a situation we face every year, with small numbers of students with serious illnesses, for example.

The idea is to allow them to continue their teaching ”, assures the dean.

"Who's going to spoil his chances by claiming he's positive?"

"

But their number could increase this time.

"The feedback I have is that very few students are in this situation", immediately tempers Philippe Diot.

And for good reason, many candidates could have chosen to come despite their infection, at the risk of creating clusters.

“It's totally hypocritical of the government to think that the students are not coming.

And the consequences could be serious ”, worries Morgane Gode-Henric, president of the National Association of Medical Students of France.

Morning essentials newsletter

A tour of the news to start the day

Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters

"I saw students in tears suffering from the symptoms of Covid-19, unable to take it any longer," says Tania *, in medicine in Dijon.

Julie *, in Clermont-Ferrand, will take her competition on January 6 and 7.

And for nothing in the world she wouldn't miss it.

"Of course, I will still take my competition if I'm positive, I've been preparing for too long," she says.

"What I fear is the unnecessary and dangerous exposure of all the students, the appearance of a cluster, because who is going to spoil their chances by claiming that they are positive?

No one.

For a medical competition, endangering the health of its students is illogical and laughable, ”says Claire *, in Saint-Etienne.

Asked about this risk, Philippe Diot does not wish to comment on “this way of acting”.

To avoid such a situation, some establishments have chosen, despite official instructions, to open rooms dedicated to positive candidates, as is the case at the University of Paris, confirms a medical student.

“Our exams are scheduled at the exhibition center in Versailles, and they have planned to dedicate a room to Covid cases and contact cases,” she explains.

The same type of protocol has also been put in place in Lyon-Sud, according to several sources.

Thus, only the cases suffering from too severe symptoms have the possibility of repeating, without toasting of cartridge.

In Reims also, positive students benefit from an isolation room, as confirmed by this invitation to the competition sent to the students.

Contacted, management was not available to answer our questions.

DR  

A room for symptoms "occurring during" tests

In reality, only the existence of a room dedicated to students suffering from "difficulties arising during the test (cough, fever etc.)", is authorized by the general direction of higher education and professional integration. (DGESIP).

These are "students who do not come within the framework of isolation, who have for example felt ageusia in the morning, or passed a sick person within 48 hours", confirms Philippe Diot, who opened such a room in his faculty of Tours.

For other establishments, it is still total vagueness, a few days before the tests.

“I am in PASS at the Faculty of Medicine of Brest and we have just had a video meeting about the organization of the competition which should take place next week.

However, despite several questions concerning the case of possible patients, the faculty has not given any explanation about what would happen to potential students with Covid if it is not

we are in total uncertainty " , told us a young man on Monday.

Could aggrieved students turn against their university?

Yes, according to Jérôme Verdier, a Bordeaux lawyer specializing in defending students.

“The education code provides that the university must promote student success, it is a little-known provision.

[…] It is up to the administration to adapt, not to the students ”, estimates the council.

Even if for some, it is already too late.

* All first names have been changed at the request of the interested parties