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DinoDoc
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AECCP loves Democracy
Sep 1999
time: 23:30
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quote:
PARIS (AP)- A senior health official resigned Monday after France's health minister admitted that up to 5,000 people, many of them elderly and alone, might have died in the heat wave, almost twice as many as previously estimated. The government and opposition traded accusations over who is to blame.
The departure of Lucien Abenhaim, director general of health, was expected to increase pressure for beleaguered Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei to resign.
For days, French newspapers have questioned the authorities' response and asked why hospitals overflowed with victims as temperatures exceeded 104 degrees.
The left-leaning daily Liberation claimed Monday that the center-right government had not responded properly. Le Parisien topped its front page with the headline "Murderous Heat Wave: What didn't work."
Mattei's ministry previously had estimated that 1,600 to 3,000 people died from heat-related causes starting Aug. 7, most of them elderly. Many of the deaths resulted from dehydration or heat stroke, doctors said.
Opposition politicians insist that the government did not react quickly enough. One top Socialist lawmaker said he believed Mattei should resign.
But lawmakers from the ruling UMP coalition have blamed a law enacted by the previous Socialist government that limited France's working week to 35 hours. That law, combined with the August holidays, left medical centers and hospitals short-staffed, critics allege. |
1) What could the government have done differently that would have muted this criticism before hand?
2) Is there any truth to the assertion by the UMP coalition at the end of the article?
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VetLegion
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The awsome power of statistics..
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mindseye
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A Yankee living in Shanghai
Apr 1999
time: 13:30
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quote:
Originally posted by DanS
As I understand it, France doesn't have much air conditioning? If this is so, a lot of old people will die in heat waves such as this. Unfortunate, but a fact of life nonetheless. You can do small things to help, but as I understand it, this kind of heat wave doesn't happen too often in France. |
Level-headed post as usual, DanS.
Recently I read an article (NYTimes?) about the French and a/c. You are quite correct. Traditional French thinking was that a/c was unnatural and unhealthy (some Chinese believe this, too), and that it was better to use things like fans.
However, the article said, home sales of a/c units had recently started climbing due to increased exposure to a/c in the office and in private autos.
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VetLegion
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You probably mean central heating with radiators. Sometimes a building has central heating, sometimes entire neighbours get heated by a nearby powerplant?
Anyway, there was a short report about this on CNN (europe) an hour or so ago. Some nasty pictures of a hospital crowded with old people lying half dead, mouth open a little.
You know, what kind of people leave their folks like that? They said most of these old people have families who are on vacations somewhere on the coast. If that's true, it is really sad.
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LDiCesare
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La Ferté sous Jouarre France
Jan 2001
time: 05:30
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quote:
1) What could the government have done differently that would have muted this criticism before hand? |
The government (this one and the previous ones by the way) hasn't listened to the doctors, nurses, etc. which results in our having less and less medical personel.
Additionnally, they issued measures to reduce the deficit of the social security (welfare) system. This results in penalizing nurses who provide care to old people at home, and such care saved lives.
Overall, the reaction to the crisis wasn't good but it's hard to blame it. The previous decisions not to take care of the medical system, closing some hospitals, reducing the expenses despite the fact people age and need more medical care to live old, can be blamed.
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Kaak
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i don't understand. 5000 people dead from temps less than 105F ? that is common here, and you don't here of too many people dying...
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All times are GMT. The time now is 05:30.
Apolyton Time is 00:30. |
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20-08-2003 00:43
... Honestly, the problem wasn't so much that too many people need help at the hospital, the problem was that there were too many people going to the hospital. Address the solution not the problem dill-holes! Heck, I am sure half the ppl who died never even made it to the hospital. The last time I had a heat stroke I was unconsious...
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