more than a thousand health reservists volunteer to go to Mayotte

More than a thousand health reservists have declared themselves volunteers to strengthen the health system in Mayotte, after the devastating passage of Cyclone Chido, according to the Ministry of Health.

“More than 1,000 or 1,100 volunteers” declared themselves for “come and complete the Mayotte teams this week or in the coming weeks”declared Thursday the Director General of Health, Grégory Emery. These reservists are “caregivers or nurses, engineers, crisis managers…” he indicated.

They will be able to “replacing both the teams from the Mayotte hospital center, but also the teams from the Regional Health Agency”in particular to allow these staff to take care of their family or their personal life, being, themselves, “victims of the cyclone”.

According to the Ministry of Health, 113 reservists are already working on the island. “We will see depending on the needs that are expressed whether we need to increase this number”indicated Mr. Emery. Public Health France is in the process of setting up a living base for these volunteers, the capacity of which could go up to “150 or 180 places”he said.

Mr Emery was speaking to journalists from the Crisis Operational Center of the Ministry of Health (Corruss) in Paris. One of the concerns of this center is to help “restarting” of the Mayotte health system, while the hospital operates at “half its capacity” due to the damage suffered, according to the official.

A field hospital managed by Civil Security was sent to the archipelago, recalled Mr. Emery. A mobile structure that can accommodate eight resuscitation places will also be sent to the site, he said. Engineers and a hospital director were also sent to the site for technical diagnostics on the damaged buildings.

The crisis center also ensures that the epidemic risk is controlled after the disaster, while Mayotte was affected by cholera until last July. Ten thousand doses of cholera vaccines have been pre-positioned in Reunion, said Mr. Emery.

Informed in particular by the experience of Hurricane Irma in Saint-Martin in 2017, the crisis center will also monitor the medico-psychological risk. “It’s a real challenge to allow people to be supported” on this level, either by professionals, “or quite simply also through information and speech at the community level”declared the DGS.