Didier Jaffre, Director General of the ARS, will come to discuss with the stakeholders in the Saint-Affrique hospital case at the beginning of January.

Didier Jaffre, directeur général de l’ARS, était présent en septembre à l’inauguration de l’imagerie médicale MIDI LIBRE – J.M COGNOT

A meeting is scheduled for Monday, January 6 at the Richard-Sainct space in Saint-Affrique. In the presence of caregivers, Mayor Sébastien David, the hospital's inter-union and members of the Manifeste.For several months, the Manifesto for the Defense of Hospitals and Maternity Units in South Aveyron and the inter-union of the Émile-Borel hospital center have been mobilizing to safeguard the establishment and maintain services while waiting for the opening of the future joint hospital. It has been joined for several weeks by the Émile-Borel collective following the closure of services, the prolonged regulation of emergencies, but also in the face of the fracture and the displayed distrust on the part of hospital staff and doctors towards the management of the two hospitals.

Manifesto Mobilization

Requests for appointments and explanations from the ARS have been made by mail. Finally, it was the mobilization of the Manifesto on Tuesday, December 17 and the cancellation on the same day of the hospital supervisory board by Mayor Sébastien David, also president of the said board, which seemed to have moved the lines.

Indeed, it is through a press release that the ARS announces the arrival of Didier Jaffre, Director General of the ARS Occitanie, in Saint-Affrique on Monday, January 6 at the Richard-Sainct multipurpose space: “This new time for discussion and consultation with the stakeholders in this case, including the Émile-Borel collective, will take place […] with all institutional decision-makers, elected officials from the region and representatives of healthcare stakeholders. And this is to reaffirm at the beginning of 2025 the challenges and next steps of the future joint hospital of South Aveyron, as well as the intermediate organization methods for the provision of care in this region.”

A letter from Didier Jaffre

The same press release mentions a letter from the regional director addressed to the collective in response to the points of demands that the latter addressed to him. This letter, dated December 9, recently received by the collective, is three pages long.

“I would like to reaffirm that the only objective that everyone must strive to pursue, including the collective that you are, is the maintenance and development of a MCO hospital care offer (emergency, medicine, surgery, obstetrics) in the south of Aveyron,” wrote Didier Jaffre.

Sébastien David: “do not underestimate the crisis”

Sébastien David is“I am delighted that there is finally this meeting and a series of discussions. I am campaigning with the ARS for better communication, particularly after the meeting of the joint hospital steering committees. The ARS must demonstrate that nothing is hidden and that there is no double-talk. We must not underestimate the crisis and mistrust that reigns.” Henri Célié, spokesperson for the Manifesto, believes that “the press release is hollow regarding the specific questions asked by the collective, particularly regarding the maintenance of services and compliance with commitments made on the three sites. I hope that the meeting on January 6 will provide us with concrete answers.”

“This involves the construction of the joint hospital of Millau and Saint-Affrique on the Saint-Georges-de-Luzençon site, a project on which all energies must be implemented, otherwise the provision of care on both sites will disappear. […] The two establishments must now operate as if they were a single establishment. The medical and care teams of the two establishments must become one. We must stop thinking about each of the sites separately, it no longer makes sense.”

For Régine Sauveplane, a nurse in the emergency room and at the Smur and secretary of the Émile Borel collective, “what is surprising is that the ARS sent a press release to say that the director is coming to Saint-Affrique on January 6. It's very good that he's coming, but we're waiting for confirmation from him on the place and time of the meeting.”