2023-10-09 13:00:05
“A surprise attack”, the witnesses denounced in shock. On September 14, on the Doujani roundabout, south of Mamoudzou, a stone pierced the window of a bus chartered to bring agents from the Mayotte hospital center (CHM) home. The projectile, launched “by a young person”, a hit the face of a student at the nursing training institute. The young woman risks never regaining the use of her bruised eye.
Yet accustomed to attacks on the roads and outbreaks of violence between neighborhood gangs, this department of the Indian Ocean expressed, in the days that followed, a mixture of indignation and revolt. At a time when the lack of water raises fears of a health crisis, this event further exacerbates the tensions which are exhausting the health system..
The shortage of caregivers is glaring and the demand for care is growing at the same time as the population, the poorest in France. Increasing by 4% per year, the number of inhabitants is estimated at 300,000 by INSEE. An underestimated figure, according to many elected officials, due to the presence of numerous illegal immigrants, mainly from the neighboring Comoros. The lack of medical personnel forced the regional health agency to trigger, on 1is June, the white level 2 plan, due to a risk of disruption of care. National reinforcements and members of the health reserve arrived from mainland France. The Prime Minister, Elisabeth Borne, announced on October 5 the sending of thirty additional caregivers to strengthen the suffering hospital center.
“They make a mess so that we can take care of them”
Following the attack on September 14, CHM staff exercised their right to withdraw. Because this is not an isolated act of violence. THE «bus du CHM», as they say in Mayotte, are very regularly targeted by stones. For what reasons ? “No doubt because they represent the State”, says Jean-Mathieu Defour, director of the CHM. Behind these stones are, most often, young adolescents. “It’s about all these kids who are struggling, abandoned, without prospects, and who often don’t appear in the censuses, advances Mouayad Madjidi, SUD-Health delegate. They make a mess so that we can take care of them. »
The attacks against caregivers do not stop there. In May, the peripheral hospital of Dzoumogné was attacked by a “twenty young people armed with chombos [machettes] », relates Fred-Marc (the people mentioned by their first name wish to remain anonymous), caring in this establishment in the north of the island. “They broke inside and ransacked offices. » In July, this reference medical center, overlooked by shanty towns, was stoned. “It’s a big trauma. We come to work freaking out,” testifies Fred-Marc, showing fences installed in a backyard to limit the jets of projectiles. This new violence led to the closure of the hospital overnight. Dispensary consultations are only open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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