“Infected wound”, “sore arm”, “horrible wound”… On an A4 sheet, Doctor Martine Eutrope noted all the reasons for consultation of the day. At the start of the afternoon, Friday December 20, around fifteen residents of Mayotte had already stopped by to see her in her medical truck parked along the national road, around ten kilometers from Mamoudzou. Almost a week after the passage of Cyclone Chido, the wounds of the Mahorais are still far from being healed.
In the slums on the other side of the road, many residents were injured by the sheets of huts that flew away and now litter the roads. According to the latest official report on Saturday, the authorities recorded nearly 2,500 injuries. “But a whole section of the population is left behind, particularly those who cannot afford to go to hospital”assures the doctor. So, to respond to this emergency, the septuagenarian put her yellow stethoscope around her neck and went directly to meet these isolated residents.
After the passage of the devastating cyclone, the idea of this traveling medical office germinated in the heads of the members of the Nariké M'sada association which normally carries out screenings and awareness-raising activities on sexually transmitted diseases. “Our truck was not damaged, so instead of twiddling our thumbs, we said to ourselves that we were going to use it to allow people to have as much care as possible in the same place”explains the director, Moncef Mouhoudhoire.
Neither one nor two, the association goes in search of a medical crew to provide care. Martine Eutrope did not hesitate for long. Especially since the metal gate that protects his office in town was damaged by the cyclone, which prevents him from receiving his patients. Here she is now sitting at the front of the truck, with a medical bed to examine and a small desk to write her prescriptions. At the back, a nurse is also installed to carry out part of the care.
In front of the truck, a bench was added to cope with the influx of visitors. That day, around twenty people of all ages waited quietly, in the shadow of the vehicle. “I’ve been here since this morning.”assures Nadia, 36 years old. “I twisted my ankle. A big piece of wood fell on me on Saturday. I massaged it a little, but it's not better”, she explains, pointing to her painful foot. While she was going to get water from the nearby fountain, she happened to see this truck with the slogan: “Here, I take care of myself.”
Next to her, a man also came to show his foot to a doctor. It has doubled in volume and a wound seems to be becoming infected, while the temperature is around 32°C and the hygienic conditions are very precarious due to water shortages. A young girl also came to accompany her mother, injured by a piece of sheet metal during the cyclone.
The needs seem immense. The day before, in one afternoon, the two health professionals received around fifty residents in the Kaweni district, which housed the largest slum in France. “We saw horrible wounds, sometimes super-infected,” says Martine Eutrope. “Usually, at my office, I ask for the social security card. But today, it’s impossible to sort”she explains. A majority of the injured she receives are undocumented.
“I find it unacceptable not to treat everyone.”
Martine Eutrope, doctor in Mayotteat franceinfo
After the consultation, another challenge awaits patients: recovering medicines, when many have lost everything and have no money to properly treat themselves. So that the treatments can be properly followed, the doctor can count on another association, the Primary Care Team. It is to her that the medicines collected by the most vulnerable patients will be directly billed.
Despite its countless missions, a serious threat hangs over the truck. Or more precisely, on its tank. Fuel is already running out. “We had to turn off the air conditioning, it’s an oven inside”whispers the doctor. The worst could happen in the days to come. While queues of vehicles stretch for hundreds of meters near gas stations, a running out of fuel would put a detrimental brake on the vital missions of this medical truck.
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