Mayotte: the hospital “on the verge of collapse”
“Recently, we were informed of a cardiac arrest. No doctor was available, we were unable to intervene,” laments a nurse from the Mayotte Hospital Center (CHM). The establishment is in a "catastrophic" situation due to lack of sufficient staff, and even "on the verge of collapse", warns a doctor.
Information from AFP
Published on 05/30/2024 at 09:12
Testimonies like that of Pierre (not his real name), the CHM nurse, are multiplying in the Indian Ocean archipelago, the poorest department in France, whose population is estimated by INSEE at around 320,000 inhabitants.
The caregiver recounts the call made regarding a man in cardiac arrest. Failing to be able to mobilize a hospital team, "it was the firefighters who went there. They 'shocked' him four times. I think we could have saved him. But the gentleman died," laments the nurse .
The emergency department operates in particular with 5 doctors for 37 hospital emergency room positions.
Consequence: “deaths” which “could be avoided”, assures a doctor denouncing, on condition of anonymity, “delays in care at all levels”.
The cholera epidemic which has been raging in the territory since the end of March, with 122 cases recorded, has further strained the situation. On May 25, the disease claimed a second victim in Mayotte, a 62-year-old woman living in Mamoudzou, the Mahorese “capital”. This death, again, “could have been avoided”, affirms Pierre, the nurse.
The general director of the CHM, Jean-Mathieu Defour, specifies that the patient had "presented to the emergency room the day before" of her death but that she had been "sent home because her condition, at that time, was not 'did not fall within the criteria' for support.
As is the rule in the event of an unexpected complication, a “mortality and morbidity review” (analysis of the facts) was launched. Its “results are not yet known”, according to the director.
- "Degraded mode"
“The emergency department is operating in degraded mode,” recognizes the boss of the CHM, who initiated a blank plan a year and a half ago. “We are stopping non-urgent activities and certain consultations to refocus medical and paramedical resources,” he specifies.
To accommodate cholera cases and create a dedicated space, the hospital center had to close its short-term hospitalization unit. “This puts even more pressure on emergencies since there are no longer any airlocks with other services,” continues Jean-Mathieu Defour.
Less urgent cases are sent to peripheral medical centers, located throughout the island.
But the conditions of care there are not the same as in the hospital.
“There are no emergency doctors in the dispensaries, only general practitioners. And sometimes patients are kept there until early in the morning while their state of health deteriorates,” relates the CHM doctor.
For the past month, the emergency department has recorded almost half as many admissions as usual. However, “we know very well that there is damage outside,” continues the patrician.
And due to lack of staff, calls to 15 are regularly transferred to Reunion.
The director concedes that "the situation is complicated", even if the hospital is in the "capacity" to "take care of patients presenting to the emergency room", assures the CHM in a message published Wednesday on social networks.
“In mainland France, we see emergency services closing. Here it is impossible since we cannot send patients 50 kilometers away…”, argues Jean-Mathieu Defour. So the Mamoudzou emergency rooms remain open, even though there is a shortage of staff. “Mayotte is a territory in permanent crisis, it is not at all attractive,” underlines the director.
If recruitment difficulties persist, it is also because of a “management” problem, points out Benoît (first name changed), another CHM nurse. "There is no organization. We are told everything and its opposite. This has pushed nearly 20 people to leave in recent months," he calculates.
Under these conditions, caregivers are considering exercising their right of withdrawal, says the same nurse. "Everyone is disgusted. We are being mistreated and we are mistreating patients, because we have no choice."
https://www.clicanoo.re/article/societe/2024/05/30/mayotte-lhopital-au-bord-de-la-rupture
