“Isolated”, “abandoned”, “discredited”: these are the words of liberal health professionals to describe their feelings regarding the consideration given by health authorities in their capacity as caregivers after the passage of the cyclone.
“Total disorganization”
More than a month and a week after the devastating Chido, network and electricity problems are still embolizing the inhabitants of the archipelago and in particular the liberal health professionals, spread throughout the island to treat the inhabitants in a post-cyclone context. To date, telecommunications means have still not been restored on the island, and this “in many areas”, notes the National Union of Liberal Nurses (Sniil). This situation, already complicated for patients, has become untenable for certain practitioners, reports the union authority. Since the passage of the cyclone, Sniil believes that liberal health professionals have been experiencing “immense pressure”, sitting between two chairs, with on the one hand, the need to maintain their care for their patients, “while facing disorganization total”.
In the absence of aid, the liberals stick together
“We felt completely isolated after the cyclone because nothing had been anticipated by the liberals in the health strategy,” says a liberal nurse. To this day, many liberals are still without a network and their calls have gone unanswered to the health authority. “It's still crazy to think that a general medicine practice in the south of Mayotte is running thanks to a Starlink antenna loan from a pharmacy which was willing to part with it so that the medical practice could operate. The ARS has done nothing to help this office,” exclaims a health professional.
Income suspended
Without electricity and without a network, many self-employed health professionals are still unable to teletransmit their procedures. In addition to the delays in treatment suffered by patients, this situation above all deprives these professionals of their income, even as their expenses accumulate. “I don't know if we will be able to hold on financially or logistically speaking in this situation, not to mention the moral exhaustion because we have never stopped working since the cyclone, it doesn't make us want to continue when we see how we treats us,” confides a practitioner.
-Steps that are too “insufficient”, judges Sniil
In this context, the National Union of Liberal Nurses calls on the Ministry of Labor, Health, Solidarity and Families, and the Mayotte Regional Health Agency, to act urgently with the liberals to “restore the means of reliable communication in disaster areas”, “provide temporary solutions to financially compensate the losses of injured professionals”, “strengthen support for health professionals in this emergency situation”, and “put in place exceptional measures in order to allow taking in charge of patients. Despite “steps taken” by these authorities, such as financial support offered to practices damaged by the cyclone or the installation of satellite antennas, these would still be “insufficient”, believes the union. “1,500 euros, 3,000 euros, 5,000 euros to repair a cabinet but who will be able to assess the type of damage suffered and the means granted? It would be better to have a global envelope for everyone, it's not coherent and we're not even there yet! », Comments a nurse.
Can the ARS do without liberals?
During the Covid-19 epidemic, liberal health professionals played a vital role in the field, with in-depth knowledge of the population and its pathologies, to help identify new outbreaks of coronavirus and implement place of preventive, as well as curative, measures against the virus and other diseases. “During Covid, there were no photos! These circuits worked very well. We had personal protective equipment, masks, we had regular supplies through pharmacies, we had rapid tests to screen the population. Today, we are denied everything. They don't want to give us rapid tests for dengue or cholera, we don't have mosquito products for patients, it's as if we are of no use, even though we are in the field every day . » While the 101st French department detected a first case of imported cholera last Saturday, it seems essential to apply prevention measures throughout the territory, relying on the liberals. It remains to be seen whether the health authorities will agree to trust these field agents, true health compasses for the Mahorese population as a whole.
Mathilde Hangard
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