The right to visit the elderly in nursing homes cannot be subject to “any restriction”, said the Minister of Solidarity, Jean-Christophe Combe, on Friday, “rectifying” in this sense a health protocol for the management of the Covid that had given rise to anger. of family associations.
“No person received in nursing homes will suffer further isolation due to a health protocol, no family will be denied access to their loved ones, I am personally committed to this,” Jean-Christophe Combe hammered in a press release.
A new protocol that has aroused strong reactions
The minister says that he “became aware of the very legitimate emotion of the associations of the elderly and families” about a new version of the health protocol in nursing homes, published on March 10.
This protocol maintained “discriminatory instructions on the use of a mask and on the right to visit” and, therefore, “violated the fundamental freedoms of coming and going that, however, are the norm in establishments and services for the elderly”, The association Con, which brings together older residents, families and directors of establishments, had pointed out this Tuesday.
In its version of March 10, the health protocol mentioned the possibility, for directors in the face of “grouped cases” of influenza or Covid, of imposing “the cessation of visits (and) the suspension of outings” of residents. However, these “strict” measures should remain “exceptional”, it was specified.
Measures “adequate, proportionate and limited in time”
In its new version dated March 17 and released by the ministry, this sentence has been deleted. “The measures must be adequate, proportionate to the situation of the establishment and limited in time”, the text is limited to specifying.
“We can only welcome this development because we expected a firm and strong word from the minister,” the association’s president Con Patrick Couratin told AFP.
“About time! But the protocol is still too vague,” reacted Claudette Brialix, president of Fnapaef, which brings together the families of Ehpad residents.
Source: BFM TV
