The call was launched by the Carhaix hospital surveillance committee. Between 750, according to the prefecture, and a thousand people, according to the organizers, demonstrated this Saturday in front of the Finisterre prefecture, in Quimper, to demand the reopening of the Carhaix emergency service at night.
Emergency rooms only partially reopened at the start of the school year and remain closed in the afternoon and evening, while the Brest university hospital is an hour’s drive away. The Carhaix hospital emergency room has operated in a manner regulated by Samu from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. every day since the beginning of July.
Elected officials “disappointed”
Sixteen elected officials, including the mayor of Carhaix, Christian Troadec (DVG), were received by the prefect of Finisterre, Alain Espinasse. These elected officials wanted to “remember the commitment that the State had made in August to guarantee that we return to a normal system,” he told AFP.
“We are very disappointed” by the lack of a date for a return to normality, said Christian Troadec. Referring to the mobilizations of 2008, the councilor assured “that if we have to do it again, we will do it again.” At the time, as is remembered France 3 Brittany, elected officials, residents and employees had mobilized for several months against the closure of the surgical and maternity services of the Carhaix hospital. They finally won their case.
They point out the death of a baby
“We do not consider this situation normal,” said prefect Alain Espinasse during a press conference. He explained that the regulation of emergencies in Carhaix at night is explained by the lack of an emergency doctor. “We are working to find a doctor,” he continued, so we can return “to normality as soon as possible,” but without being able to commit to a specific date.
This Saturday’s demonstration took place peacefully, before the situation became tense at midday, when protesters tried to cross the police cordon. The police used tear gas.
A previous meeting, on September 14, at the National Health Agency (ARS), resulted in a blockade of the agency’s facilities by protesters. In particular, the director of the ARS and the director of the Brest-Carhaix university hospital were detained for several hours.
Another tragedy has recently ignited the wildfire: the death of a 6-month-old baby, during the night from Wednesday to Thursday in Carhaix. Suffering from a breathing problem, emergency services were unable to treat the baby quickly enough.
If the baby’s death raises questions for the Defense and Surveillance Committee of the Carhaix hospital, the management of the Brest University Hospital stated that “the death is not linked to the regulation of emergencies.”
Source: BFM TV
