Florence Parly, Minister in charge of Defense, explains to the Parisian how the army entered the battle against the coronavirus. Surrounded by a very small work team, she stopped all travel, and gave us this interview by phone.
The field hospital in Mulhouse (Haut-Rhin) is in the process of being set up. When will it be operational?
FLORENCE PARLY . Everyone is on the bridge to make it as quick as possible. This structure will be created near the Mulhouse hospital, whose constraint must be relaxed in the face of the influx of patients. It is a heavy operation. A structure must be erected from scratch, and above all, 30 indoor resuscitation beds must be set up, capable of treating patients with acute pathology, with fully-formed medical teams to welcome them.
Can there be other field hospitals trained in France?
We will continue to respond to requests within our means. But the construction of the field hospital in Mulhouse represents for the armies an important operation.
What is the latest looking example? Is it on an outdoor theater?
In Opex (Editor's note: external operations), it's different. These are hospitals whose mission is to carry out war surgery and to condition the wounded so that they can be transported and taken care of in our military hospitals in mainland France. This is not resuscitation of the coronavirus crisis type.
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So there is no precedent?
Yes, this is a first. Likewise, we have never made military planes equipped with Morphée kits (Resuscitation module for patients with high elongation evacuation) available to civilian populations.
Is this the flight that took place this Wednesday by military plane from Mulhouse?
Yes. We mobilized an in-flight refueling plane, the MRTT Phoenix, an Airbus 330. It is equipped with a Morpheus kit, allowing the transport of six patients requiring resuscitation and ventilation. This frees up precious beds at the Mulhouse hospital. These six patients were then taken in charge by two military hospitals dependent on the health service of the armies, one in Toulon, the other in Marseille.
Will this plane be used every day?
There may be other evacuation missions, yes. Our crews - pilots and caregivers - have organized themselves to respond to requests from the Ministry of Health. The military health service represents only a small percentage of the overall public health resources. It places itself at the disposal of the country, keeping in mind that its primary mission is to be able to take care of and care for our wounded and sick.
What can the army still do?
We have identified 5 million masks in our stocks, which have been made available to the Ministry of Health. And we are also mobilizing technological and scientific resources from the Directorate General of Armaments. The DGA has a department specializing in nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical protection. Its teams are working hard to test all kinds of masks which could constitute alternatives to the masks used at the moment. We can also urgently carry out support missions in the context of the current crisis.
When was the decision to draw on the armies taken?
We have been holding defense counsel on the coronavirus for several weeks. We work in a spirit of pooling of resources. The mission of the Ministry of the Armed Forces is to protect the French. This means continuing our missions, including the fight against terrorism in particular, and protecting the French against this virus. The President of the Republic said it: we are at war.
It is appropriate, this term "war"?
We are in a fighting spirit. I read with great pleasure the statement made by three of the last Companions of the Liberation, who took the trouble to call the French people to cohesion and responsibility. Our country must show its capacity for resilience, namely our collective capacity to overcome traumatic shocks, in the face of a major crisis.
The soldiers will also be on the street to enforce containment?
It is not the mission of the military. On the other hand, the armies will continue to ensure the Sentinel mission to fight against terrorism. Despite the virus, the threat is still there. But this system is flexible: our objective is also to be able to free the internal security forces from counter-terrorism tasks so that the police and gendarmes can redeploy to other missions. They will be very mobilized to ensure containment control. On a case-by-case basis, the prefects send their needs to the military authorities every week and we respond to them.
For example ?
As I told you, by taking over our counter-terrorism missions if the need is expressed, or all kinds of support missions. We are fully mobilized alongside the other state forces. For example during Euro 2016 in France, we provided this type of support.
Do you have cases of contamination within the army?
Yes, of course, several dozen contaminated military and civilian personnel. But I can tell you that we have none in operation, whether in France or in external operations. All essential missions are carried out thanks to our business continuity plans.
The soldiers of Barkhane, in the Sahel, have instructions? Can the mission evolve with this health crisis?
It is a war operation, in a theater where there are no, or extremely few, cases recorded. I will not ask the soldiers to return to mainland because of the coronavirus! We must ensure operational permanence in this fight against terrorism, operations continue, relief has been assured. We obviously take every precaution before and during the deployment of our soldiers. I also point out that many other dangers exist in external operations such as dengue or malaria.
Your former colleague, Agnès Buzyn, claims to have informed the government of the risks, from January. How do you react ?
The Prime Minister provided all the useful details, I have no more comments. We are at war, and our collective ambition, our duty, is to save lives. We are all mobilized for this.