Eric Zemmour thinks hospital is “under siege” by foreigners, doctors respond – The HuffPost

POLICY – For him, the evils of the public hospital are due to foreigners and to three letters: AME. During a rally in Béziers, Saturday, October 16, polemicist Éric Zemmour called for the abolition of State medical aid (AME), a system that offers foreigners in an irregular situation access to healthcare and which has long been one of the favorite political targets of the far right.

“The hospital is under siege by people from all over the world. We must remove the AME ”, tweeted the nearly presidential candidate, on the sidelines of this gathering with the mayor of Béziers Robert Ménard.

If the proposal is not a surprise coming from a representative of this camp, moreover twice convicted of incitement to hatred, the idea of ​​a public hospital “under siege” because of this aid system provoked the corrections and aroused some mockery from caregivers working in the field.

“Less than 1% of patients consulting in the emergency room in Nantes fall under the AME”, recalled on Twitter Philippe Le Conte, doctor at the Nantes University Hospital. “You know what Eric? There is no one beneficiary of the AME who besieges my hospital, or it is the seat most light of the history of the seats ”, laughs the very followed Facebook page“ To be or not Toubib ”, held by a doctor in the pediatric emergency room, in a forum shared nearly 40,000 times.

According to the 2021 Finance Bill cited by Infomigrants, the budget allocated to State Medical Aid (AME) is expected to amount to around one billion euros in 2021, or only 0.5% of the 200 billion euros in health insurance spending.

Doctors from all over the world, too

Beyond the shock formulas, other doctors and emergency physicians also denounce the myopia of such an analysis. “The hospital is wrung out by policies and an ultra-liberal ideology which breaks the public service”, advances the doctor and humanitarian Jean-François Corty, who already denounced, in an interview with HuffPost at the start of the Covid-19 crisis, “structural adjustment and (budgetary) restriction policies” within the public health service.

For his part, Mathias Wargon, head of emergencies in Seine-Saint-Denis (93), recalls on Twitter the presence of many people of immigrant origin among caregivers. ”At the hospital, you are treated by doctors from all over the world. Not only because of the numerus clausus, but also because the guards are tough and badly paid ”, explains the doctor.

In March 2020, Jean-Jacques Razafindranazy, French doctor of Madagascan origin, was the first caregiver to die after struggling, through his work in the field, to stem the coronavirus pandemic. “No one could dissuade him from going there”, his daughter, Mialy Razafindranazy explained to our microphone, during a tribute to the hospital of Compiègne, some months later.

Established in 1999, State medical aid is reserved for people in an irregular situation, residing in France for three months and having resources not exceeding a certain ceiling. It allows up to 100% support, but only on a limited range of treatments, including in particular medical and dental care, drugs and hospitalization costs.

Also on The HuffPost: In Compiègne, the moving tribute to the first caregiver victim of Covid-19