But where have the masks gone that today are so lacking in caregivers in the fight against the Covid-19? It is on this sensitive subject that the Academy of Medicine is addressing in a notice made public on Tuesday, March 24. With a disturbing finding: in April 2009, when the influenza pandemic due to the H1N1 virus started, the State had in stock 1 billion surgical masks and 700 million more protective FFP2 masks.
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More than 10 years later, faced with a much more serious epidemic, the public authorities are much less well armed since, when the coronavirus arrived, the health ministry had 145 million surgical masks. The number of FFP2 masks, which are often claimed in vain by general practitioners and nurses, remains difficult to establish with precision.
State and health insurance co-financing
The opinion of the Academy recalls that it was from 2005 that stocks of masks began to be faced with the threat of new emerging viruses. ” Between 2005 and 2009, a stock of surgical masks and FFP2 masks was gradually constituted by the State, with shared funding (50% / 50%) between the State and the Health Insurance “, Specifies the Academy.
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It also notes that these materials sometimes have a limited life. ” Surgical masks have a long shelf life before expiration. On the other hand, the shelf life of FFP2 masks is set at five years by the manufacturers, due to the weakening progressive electrostatic charge which contributes to the filtration effect of this type of mask “
Don’t overdo it
In 2009, stocks were therefore at an all-time high. During the H1N1 flu pandemic, these protective tools were partly distributed to healthcare professionals who, in the end, used them little. And despite a relatively large death toll – 200,000 people died worldwide – the general feeling was that France had faced too much with a “grippette”. The then Minister of Health, Roselyne Bachelot, was widely criticized for having ordered 90 million doses of vaccine, which was ultimately unused.
” I think that played out in the anticipation of resources over the following years. Experts and health officials may have said that you shouldn’t think too big about building up stocks “, Believes Professor Didier Houssin, co-editor of this report and director general of health from 2005 to 2015. This good connoisseur of the mysteries of power admits not having” definitive explanation On the fact that the stock of surgical masks has grown from 1 billion units to 145 million today. “ For FFP2 masks, this may be linked to a change in doctrine in 2013 in inventory management Says Professor Houssin.
A change of doctrine in 2013
The opinion of the Academy of Medicine indeed notes that from 2013, the State continued to manage the stocks of surgical masks but entrusted to ” employers »Management of FFP2 masks for their staff. For example, hospitals were responsible for renewing FFP2 stocks for their doctors and caregivers. ” This evolution in the doctrine of the use of masks and their strategy for storage has resulted in a sharp decrease in stocks since 2010 “, Noted the opinion again.
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For Professor Houssin, it is not a question of accusing the hospitals, hard hit by the current crisis. ” For the managers of these establishments, the protection of personnel is undoubtedly a priority. But maybe not all hospitals have a five or ten year strategic vision of the need for masks in the face of an epidemic with a new emerging virus “, says the former DGS. And while recognizing the extraordinary difficulty of “ anticipate everything in the face of crises of ever uncertain scale “, he concludes : “Maybe this strategic role should have been left to the state “.
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