“We do not come out unscathed from a visit to the Fort-de-France hospital”
.
The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, was particularly alarmist in the face of the epidemic situation in the Overseas Territories during his visit to Martinique on Thursday.
"The health situation is out of all proportion to what we have seen in previous waves and in particular in metropolitan France"
, lamented the minister during a press conference, stressing that the situation in the West Indies was the consequence
"of" too little vaccination ”.
To discover
Covid-19: what we know about the Delta variant
Read also: Covid-19: a catastrophic situation overseas and very tense in the south of France
"The patients are young, the patients are very young"
, alerted Olivier Véran, after his visit to the CHU of Fort-de-France:
"In the emergency room, the patients are 40, 50 years old.
In intensive care, some patients can be 20, 30 years old.
They don't necessarily have co-morbidities, they are patients who were doing well a few days ago and who are now intubated ”.
The minister also specified that there was
"not a single patient vaccinated in intensive care at the hospital of Fort-de-France",
before insisting that if
"these people had been vaccinated, they would not would not be in the hospital today, they would be at home ”.
"This wave was avoidable"
Conversely, 85% of doctors in the hospital are vaccinated. The minister however welcomed
"the very strong acceleration of requests for vaccinations in Martinique"
and continued to promote vaccination.
"I suggest that we start off on the right foot, vaccines are available to everyone here and there will be no limitation."
Asked about the reasons for the reluctance in the French Antilles, the minister was annoyed:
“It dragged on more in the French Antilles than in the Netherlands Antilles, for example. There is no rational explanation. Today that does not interest me, what interests me is to protect hospitals, people. This wave was avoidable, let's avoid the next one ”
.
"When we face a virus that kills, that clogs the lungs of young people of 20, 30, 40 years, it is no longer time to ask the question of whether by magic thought we could do better than the vaccine, ”
he criticized.
Regarding the means to fight against the current wave, the Minister of Health has promised particularly innovative treatments
"to limit serious forms"
such as monoclonal antibodies:
"Several hundred treatments will arrive at the end of the week in Martinique and Guadeloupe".
More than a hundred resuscitation beds will also be opened in the two departments, with the support of the army health service. Upcoming
"medical evacuations"
will also take place at the end of the week. Olivier Véran has also promised investments for overseas hospitals:
"several hundred million euros will allow hospitals to be rebuilt and modernized".
