The tragic story of a woman who lost her baby while giving birth in her
car made headlines across France on Sunday and sparked concerns over a lack
equality in a healthcare system regarded by the World Health Organization as
the best in the world.
Longstanding fears that France is no longer able to offer equal access
to healthcare have been reawakened after a woman was forced to give birth in a
motorway lay-by because she was unable to make it to her nearest maternity
hospital. The 35-year-old woman, a little over seven months pregnant, visited
her doctor on Friday in her local town of Figeac, in France’s rural south-west
Lot region, fearing she was about to give birth.
Her doctor advised her to head directly to a respected maternity centre
located an hour and a quarter’s drive away. Tragically, the woman and her
partner were unable to make it in time and were forced to pull over on the A20
motorway. By the time emergency services arrived a short while later, they
found her clutching the lifeless body of her newborn baby. It remains unclear
at what point during the birth the baby died.
The incident has shocked a country, which prides itself on its
high-quality national healthcare, judged as the best in the world by the World
Health Organisation in 2000.
“It’s a disaster, there are no local services”
With the woman’s local maternity centre having closed in 2009, Friday’s
events have reopened an old debate in France over the increase of a phenomenon
known as “déserts médicaux”, or "medical deserts", referring to
regions where there is an absence of adequate medical care.
“Since the maternity ward closed, local firemen have had to help three
different women give birth in their cars,” André Génot, head of the local fire
brigade, told French media. “We do not have access to services locally. It’s a
disaster.”
The statistics support his concerns. According to the weekly Le Journal
du Dimanche, one in two women living in France’s most isolated areas, which
include the Lot region, have to travel more than 30 minutes to a specialised
maternity centre.This compares with 15 percent of women living in the Paris
region.
Since 1975, around two thirds of France’s maternity centres have closed
down, with only 535 of the original 1370 clinics still operating.
“Over the last 15 to 20 years we have destroyed many of our
healthcare services across the country,” Michel Antony, president of a pressure
group leading the fight against hospital closures, told FRANCE 24 on Sunday.
“The Lot is just one region where there are areas without medical services.
Women have to travel far to give birth.” “It is obvious the quality of care in
some areas has been degraded and it now needs restructuring. If the government
does not deal with this problem, we are only going to hear about similar tragic
stories in the future. That is the reality.”
The sad story of the Lot family has prompted France’s President François
Hollande to take action. On Saturday, he announced an immediate inquiry into
the circumstances of the baby’s death. Hollande also reaffirmed his vow to
ensure that every potential patient in France is within 30 minutes of emergency
medical treatment, adding that Friday’s events was a “reminder we should not
accept any medical deserts” in France. A government bill has also made plans to
introduce 200 doctors to various isolated regions in 2013.
Health insurance for all
Hollande’s “30 minute” promise is just one of a number of health reforms
he is trying to implement to improve healthcare and make it more accessible to
the country’s worse-off. The Socialist president has made public his desire to
see that all French people have access to medical insurance, known in France as
a "mutuelle".
France’s health system requires most patients to pay upfront for
non-urgent medical care, around 70 percent of which is then refunded directly
to the patient through the state’s social security system. The mutuelle
insurance then covers all or part of the remaining costs.
But four million French citizens currently live without the cover of a
mutuelle, a statistic Hollande wants remedied by the time his term of office
comes to an end in 2017. “The time has come to bring an end to the drift
towards freemarket healthcare,” Hollande told the congress of Mutualité
Francais in Nice on Saturday.
The president is also trying to tackle the problem of doctors and other
medical professionals charging patients excessively high fees for treatment and
consultations. His government is currently overseeing tense negotiations
between unions and industry professionals to solve the issue. If the talks fail
to produce an agreement, Hollande says the government will simply lay down the
law.
“We cannot accept that a certain number of our compatriots are being
affected by these excessive fees and therefore cannot receive quality care,”
Hollande said.
France24
please share
No comments:
Post a Comment