Didier Jaffre (left) was greeted by 350 protesters. Midi libre – J.-M. C.
Didier Jaffre, director of ARS Occitanie was visiting Saint-Affrique this Monday, January 6, 2025. A morning that Le Manifeste and the Emile-Borel collective did not miss to make themselves heard. Story.
Yesterday morning, 350 demonstrators, some lying on sheets on the ground, welcomed Didier Jaffre, Director General of the Occitanie Regional Health Agency (ARS), in front of the Richard-Sainct multi-purpose space. The mayors of Saint-Affrique and Millau, the MP, the President of the Department and the sub-prefect of Millau were also there to meet him. Many gendarmes were on site.
Didier Jaffre came to meet the hospital partners at the request of Sébastien David, Mayor of Saint-Affrique and President of the hospital's supervisory board, but also of the Manifesto for the Defense of Hospitals and Maternity Units in South Aveyron and the Émile-Borel collective.
Tense exchanges between the two parties
The meeting took place in a rather surreal manner, tense at times, with some raised voices from some members of the ten or so representatives of the Manifesto and the collective. The latter refused to sit around the tables. They wanted to talk only with the director of the ARS and not with the other members of the joint hospital steering committee (Copil). Finally, after several minutes of discussion, the members of the two delegations sat down in front of the regional director's table. Although invited, the local press was asked to stay away, in this same room. The Manifesto and the collective addressed seven points that are their main demands: having a full-time director at the Émile-Borel hospital, maintaining and respecting the health cooperation group for consultations, stopping regulation in the emergency department as soon as doctors are recruited, opening the 20 beds with the current number of doctors, integrating staff and user representatives into the Copil, setting up a quarterly monitoring committee involving users and staff (request accepted) and providing the necessary budgets for the renovation of operating theatres and geriatrics.
200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000The joint hospital “as exceptional as the Viaduct” in Millau
«There is no need to worry about the Saint-Affrique hospital, assures Didier Jaffre. It must operate in all its services. The regional health project maintains the hospital in all its dimensions. Today, Saint-Affrique and Millau is already the joint hospital. We will choose the plans at the end of the month and start the work before the end of the year. At the end of 2028, beginning of 2029 we will have a brand new hospital. The State is investing more than 100 million euros with the Region helping us. It is something as exceptional as the Viaduct. In the meantime, both sites must continue to operate and the teams must work together. I have come to reaffirm that not only will we maintain the Saint-Affrique hospital while the joint hospital is built, but afterwards there will remain the services for the elderly, a branch of the emergency department. We have radiology. In terms of human resources, those who are best able to bring in colleagues are the doctors. The watchword that I give to the management of the establishments is to recruit. What costs the hospital dearly is not having enough staff. It is imperative to strengthen the teams and the beds will reopen. The emergency doctors must work with their colleagues in Millau. No one has ever considered closing any department. Rebuilding a hospital is a major factor of attractiveness. »
“Answers we didn't get”
Finally, after a break in the session at the request of the two delegations who spoke with the demonstrators outside the room, the meeting did not resume. The director of the ARS went on foot to the hospital with members of the Copil, escorted by the people gathered in the street. At the entrance to the hospital, a scuffle took place with police officers, the demonstrators tried to prevent the director of the ARS from entering the buildings. Finally, the latter and his entourage were able to enter, visit several departments and speak with the agents. “We were waiting for precise answers to the questions we wanted to ask and we didn't get them, regrets Henri Célié, spokesperson for the Manifesto. He (the director of the ARS, Editor's note) came to us reciting the same speech that we've been hearing for five years, that is to say that the common hospital will be the solution. What he didn't understand is that five years ago, people believed this speech a little when they said they were committed to not closing services while waiting for the common hospital. Except that people see that services are closing, that doctors are not being recruited, that those who do have are being pushed out. Now they're making fun of us. He comes with ready-made ideas, a ready-made speech, and he doesn't take into account the reality on the ground. That's obviously unacceptable. Let him talk to us about concrete things and not make us speeches. It is clear that we will have to step up our mobilization.”