“The flu hits hard and hard”: the Montauban hospital in turn triggers the white plan

Like 86 other hospitals in France, the Montauban hospital center (Tarn-et-Garonne) joined the cohort of establishments where a white plan was triggered this Friday, January 10, 2025. A measure rarely implemented – the latest one goes back to Covid – which results from the influx of patients in the emergency room. During the end-of-year school holidays, the hospital center remained at the “high tension” stage, one notch below the white plan. This system allows management to take temporary measures, such as rescheduling non-urgent operations and recalling staff from leave. In Montauban, this triggering will make it possible to mobilize more staff and reopen beds.

For almost a month, the flu has been “hitting hard and hard” at all ages and it is added to the other potential illnesses or injuries that make up the daily life of emergencies. “Every morning, we have around fifteen hospitalized patients who remain in the emergency room due to a lack of beds available in medicine, geriatrics, gynecology, obstetrics and surgery,” relates a practitioner. During the holidays, due to a lack of general practitioners, we found ourselves treating 700 files which fell under general medicine in 24 hours Unfortunately, despite the return of vacations and doctors, the number of visits has not decreased.

Vaccines are starting to run out

As in most other departments, if the bronchiolitis epidemic is decreasing and Covid is stabilizing, the flu is still at the forefront. According to Santé Publique France, the peak could be reached next week. “It started later this year and after four weeks of epidemic, we are in an ascending phase, notes David Billetorte, director of the Regional Health Agency of 82. Two strains are circulating, notably A which is the majority and B in 30% of cases which is more difficult to combat. It is never too late to get vaccinated, knowing that immunity is triggered two weeks later.

With a vaccination rate of 45.7% in 2023-2024 and a small 52% for those over 65, Tarn-et-Garonne is within the average of the other departments of Occitanie. Injections carried out 63% by pharmacists and 36% by other practitioners, mainly general practitioners.

However, in recent days, vaccines have started to run out in certain pharmacies. “We are obliged to pre-order a year in advance based on the number of vaccines sold. But this year, we vaccinated more than last year and we find ourselves destitute. The wholesalers no longer have any and it will be almost impossible to restock,” explains Arnaud Lignères, president of the pharmacists’ union in 82.
A shame at a time when the epidemic is wreaking havoc.