Combative, fist raised, hair blowing in the wind and a stethoscope in a jumper, a nurse tries to tear off a strip of tape on which it is written “Save the public hospital”. The scene was immortalized with a brush on the wall of a building of the HLM office in the city of Hope in Montreuil.
Since this weekend, no one can ignore this work, which is being deployed over 20 meters high in the city center. It is signed Dugudus, a committed Parisian plastic artist who had already illustrated himself in other frescoes in tribute to caregivers. He is also known to have sketched a Donald Trump crossed out with an “Off” button.
This time, in Montreuil, Dugudus braved his fear of heights to come to the aid of the André-Grégoire hospital. “With the bad weather the climatic conditions were not optimal”, recognizes the artist who worked for ten days with five other people full time. “This makes it possible to reconnect art with the street in a period where culture is confined”, explains Dugudus, who distinguished himself last spring with a large fresco in which he thanked the caregivers.
A debt of 97 million euros
It was during the first confinement. This time, he takes up this image of “superhero” caregivers, but he wanted to convey a more militant message in defense of the public hospital: “I show health professionals who are trying to emancipate themselves from their working conditions, and are not satisfied with the lack of means and their low salaries. “
The Montreuil hospital is indeed in bad shape. This establishment which admits 75,000 people in the emergency room and 4,000 in its maternity ward is bloodless. He has an abysmal debt of 98 million euros.
This new action crowns a whole series of initiatives carried out by the municipality in favor of its hospital. “It is not a question of asking for more than the other territories, we are simply asking for justice and equality”, recalls Patrice Bessac, mayor (PCF) of Montreuil. Since the fall he has been leading a campaign to save the hospital. His wish is to “have his debt canceled, or even renegotiated.”
He therefore seized the Regional Health Agency (ARS) Ile-de-France so that it weighs all its weight on the government at a time when the social security finance bill has just been negotiated. “We do not yet have the amount of support,” says his cabinet, which remains hopeful.
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Before ordering this fresco, the mayor had already undertaken several mobilizations to save the hospital in his city. In October 2020, alongside deputies and senators and mayor of the left, he wrote a column published in the daily “Le Monde”, in November, the municipality had organized a “Hospital Day”, a virtual demonstration on the Internet in support to the caregivers had mobilized 3000 Montreuilloix who in solidarity had hung flags and banners on their windows.
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