Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. French hospitals are in a state of crisis, with emergency wards oversaturated in recent weeks because of a shortage of doctors and nurses. In Lille and other cities in the north of the country, some emergency patients and babies born prematurely had to be transferred to hospitals in Belgium. Emergency services in Marseilles have been disorganised owing to the resignation of several doctors.
In the south west, nurses are being imported from Spain, whereas in the east many are being attracted by offers from Switzerland. An unexpected increase in the number of births, and particularly multiple and premature births, has placed an additional burden on maternity wards. The number of births, about a year in the s, rose to last year; from to , the number of premature births rose from about to Throughout the country, neonatal wards and special care baby units are overloaded.
Some maternity wards have curbed admissions because of the shortage of doctors and nurses. The Port-Royal maternity hospital in Paris, renowned for the treatment of premature babies, has reduced its number of beds from 53 to 43 and 32 during the summer holidays. In the Paris region as a whole, emergency services have found it difficult to have premature babies admitted rapidly to neonatal wards. His association has asked to be received by President Jacques Chirac and has invited Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin to see for himself the working conditions in hospitals.
And the constantly increasing cost of health care in France is a major headache for the new right wing government, which had included a promise to reduce taxes in its electoral campaign. As a library, NLM provides access to scientific literature. Find articles by Alexander Dorozynski. Open in a new tab. Similar articles. Add to Collections. Create a new collection. Add to an existing collection. Choose a collection Unable to load your collection due to an error Please try again.
Add Cancel.
