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HEALTH

France pledges €20m for fight against Ebola

France on Tuesday said it was pledging €20 million ($25.4 million) in the fight against Ebola in west Africa,including the opening of several care centres in Guinea.

Published: 29 October 2014 08:54 CET
France pledges €20m for fight against Ebola
President François Hollande said he had approved a broad plan against the deadly virus including 200 beds in Guinea. Photo: Pascal Guyot/AFP

President François Hollande said he had approved a broad plan against the deadly virus including 200 beds in Guinea, some of which would be reserved for health workers caring for the sick.

The cash should be available within 10 or so days and should cover French costs in the fight against Ebola in the region for "two to three months to come," according to France's Ebola coordinator, Jean-Francois Delfraissy.

France also pledged to set up two training centres for health workers, one in France, one in Guinea.

In addition, French biotechnology companies will set up rapid diagnostic tests in Guinea.

Ebola has killed nearly 5,000 people in the outbreak that has centred on west Africa.

There have been many false alarms in France but, aside from a nurse repatriated from west Africa, there has been no case on French soil.

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HEALTH

Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

Danish Minister for the Interior and Health Sophie Løhde has warned that, despite increasing activity at hospitals, it will be some time before current waiting lists are reduced.

Published: 10 May 2023 15:09 CEST
Lengthy waiting times at Danish hospitals not going away yet: minister

The message comes as Løhde was set to meet with officials from regional health authorities on Wednesday to discuss the progress of an acute plan for the Danish health system, launched at the end of last year in an effort to reduce a backlog of waiting times which built up during the coronavirus crisis.

An agreement with regional health authorities on an “acute” spending plan to address the most serious challenges faced by the health services agreed in February, providing 2 billion kroner by the end of 2024.

READ ALSO: What exactly is wrong with the Danish health system?

The national organisation for the health authorities, Danske Regioner, said to newspaper Jyllands-Posten earlier this week that progress on clearing the waiting lists was ahead of schedule.

Some 245,300 operations were completed in the first quarter of this year, 10 percent more than in the same period in 2022 and over the agreed number.

Løhde said that the figures show measures from the acute plan are “beginning to work”.

“It’s positive but even though it suggests that the trend is going the right way, we’re far from our goal and it’s important to keep it up so that we get there,” she said.

“I certainly won’t be satisfied until waiting times are brought down,” she said.

“As long as we are in the process of doing postponed operations, we will unfortunately continue to see a further increase [in waiting times],” Løhde said.

“That’s why it’s crucial that we retain a high activity this year and in 2024,” she added.

Although the government set aside 2 billion kroner in total for the plan, the regional authorities expect the portion of that to be spent in 2023 to run out by the end of the summer. They have therefore asked for some of the 2024 spending to be brought forward.

Løhde is so far reluctant to meet that request according to Jyllands-Posten.

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