The president of the territorial collectivity of Guyana, Rodolphe Alexandre, and the two LREM senators of this territory " demanded " Tuesday that the therapeutic test led by professor Karine Lacombe, consisting in injecting patients suffering from Covid-19 plasma of cured patients, " does not take place in Guyana ".
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“ We demanded that Professor Lacombe's mission not take place in Guyana. She is not welcome and we asked the prefect to make all the arrangements so that she is not welcomed in Guyana, "explained Rodolphe Alexandre, surrounded by senators Georges Patient and Antoine Karam, in a video broadcast at the '' from an appointment with the prefect and the director of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Monday evening (Tuesday morning in Paris).
The plan to extend this therapeutic trial, already underway in mainland France, to Guyana and Mayotte, was announced on June 25 by Karine Lacombe during a hearing at the National Assembly, but this initiative aroused strong opposition. Guyana, where many claim, on social networks, to refuse to be " guinea pigs ".
" Confidence breach "
In a letter to the director of the ARS of Guyana, the GDR deputy of Guyana Gabriel Serville acts " his breach of confidence ": " Where does this unilateral idea come from that Guyanese figures would justify the installation of a therapeutic center instead of hexagonal France? he asks, arguing that on June 29, Guyana had "only 120 hospitalizations, including 19 in intensive care" , while the metropolis still had on June 26 "8.886 hospitalized and 634 in intensive care". Guyana had a total of 4,004 cases and 15 deaths on Tuesday.
" The worrying advance of the epidemic (...) cannot make Guyana a playground " for " researchers from France ", also wrote on Monday Senator Karam to the Minister of Health Olivier Véran.
"I understand the fear of my compatriots," said deputy LREM Lenaïck Adam on Tuesday, regretting a lack of communication on the subject. He emphasizes that "the test is not done only in Guyana" but also in France, and that it is done " on a voluntary basis ". " It is the same approach as that of Professor Raoult in Marseille ", he underlines, regretting that everyone reacts " in emotion ".
Injecting plasma from recovered patients
Launched on April 7 by the French Blood Establishment (EFS), the Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) and Inserm, this trial consists of injecting patient plasma with Covid-19 cured, containing antibodies to the coronavirus.
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About 200 cured patients were to be collected in Ile-de-France, Grand-Est and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, while the trial was to include 120 patients in the acute phase of Covid-19: 60 receiving plasma and 60 , a placebo.
But that figure has not yet been reached, said Ms. Lacombe, because when the trial was launched in early April " we were already in the deceleration phase of the epidemic " , and many patients at that time did not did not meet " the inclusion criteria to benefit from the plasma test ".
On Tuesday, Rodolphe Alexandre and the two senators also issued a " 48-hour ultimatum " to the government to obtain the arrival of a military field hospital. According to the deputy Adam, who had an exchange with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Overseas and the Minister of Health, military doctors should arrive soon in reinforcement.