Combative, sometimes moved to tears by the ex-minister of Health Agnes Buzyn has defended for more than three hours Tuesday at the national Assembly have failed to"anticipation" and "responsiveness" to prepare France to the crisis of the sars coronavirus. "You can't say that it was not responsive", she hammered before the commission of inquiry to assess the government response to the epidemic.
"anticipation" in France to address the epidemic of coronavirus was "without common measure with the other european countries" and "always in advance" compared to the alerts of international organizations, she assured, citing the decisions taken even before the world Health Organization (WHO) declared a public health emergency of international concern January 30. She confirmed that it had alerted the Elysee and Matignon, as she had mentioned in the polemics in the World in mid-march.
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Agnès Buzyn claims to have "sensed" as early as January 22, the potential severity of the epidemic, when information that the new coronavirus could be transmitted from one human being to another has been known. She added that she immediately asked for the status of all stocks of protective equipment, including masks, as well as the number of beds of resuscitation and respirators, and have launched a first order of a million masks FFP2, more protective, absent of strategic stocks of State.
The minister details have also asked the public Health agency in France to develop "three scenarios for the development of the epidemic" and to the consortium of research Reacting, to prepare a "research protocol" with the potential drugs that are already available.
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"I've at no time underestimated the risk and I prepared for our health-care system" before leaving the ministry, on the 16th of February, to engage in the campaign of the municipal to Paris, she again said that before the commission of inquiry, who has already heard all of the directors-general of Health since 2003 and a number of experts and researchers.
"The stock management is not up to a-level minister"
As in previous hearings, the 32 members of the commission have addressed the issue of the evaporation of the stock's strategic Status of protective masks. In April 2010, it reached 1 billion surgical masks and 700 million masks FFP2. But after several years with no purchases and a report in 2018, concluding that the majority of the stock is outdated, and more usable, beginning 2020, this stock is reduced to 117 million surgical masks for adults, $ 40 million of masks, pediatric, and more no reserve FFP2.
"This management of stocks, it is not up to a-level minister", has defended Agnès Buzyn, claiming that they have not had knowledge of the letter sent by public Health, France the Directorate-general of Health in September 2018. This letter emphasised the expiry of an important part of the strategic stock of the State of masks, and recommended to buy the equipment to bring back the stock to 1 billion masks.
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"The vigilance that I do have, it is on dozens of products," she explained to the deputies, noting that if the attention was "a posteriori" on the question of masks, due to the new coronavirus, iodine tablets in case of nuclear accident or wear protection in the face of the Ebola virus were not topics "less important" for a minister of Health.
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it adds that It is not she who has made the decision to destroy the masks found to be non-compliant then the stock had not yet been reconstituted, adding, however, "assume fully" the decisions taken by its services between may 2017 and February 2020. The doctor hematologist on the other hand has been criticized in the hollow of the role of public Health France, responsible for the management of the protective equipment.
"It takes an agency dedicated to crises in general"
"We all want to requery" the role of health agencies, she said, believing that "questions" existed on the "inventory control" in recent years. "Learning by 2018, a large part of the inventory is outdated... It needs to question once again how it worked", she advanced. It has also held that the creation of this agency in 2017, which has absorbed the functions of the Establishment of preparedness and response to health emergencies (EPRUS), was able to "dilute" the skills of crisis management and "can be reduced reactivity".
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"I think there needs to be an agency dedicated to crises in general, and not just health", she suggested to the deputies, who have announced their wish to "learn the lessons" of the management of the crisis. The commission auditioned then all predecessors of Agnès Buzyn since 2003: Marisol Touraine and Roselyne Bachelot on Wednesday, and then Xavier Bertrand on Thursday.
