14,000 medical treatments during the Paris Olympics without saturating the health system

The French health system has so far recorded 14,000 cases of care at the Olympic Games sites in Paris, but "very few hospitalizations", declared the Minister Delegate for Health, Frederic Valletoux, on France 2 on Thursday.

"In every Olympics there is free care for athletes"

"Ultimately, there were 14,000 interventions all in all.", heat stroke, sprained ankles… but "very few hospitalizations" since the beginning of the competition, said the resigning minister, assuring that there was no "no saturation in the health system".

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"Yesterday, out of approximately 50,000 hospitalizations in emergency rooms in France, there were around ten or fifteen hospitalizations linked to the Olympic Games.", he illustrated. "The French team of caregivers is there, whether in the 12 hospitals which, alongside the AP-HP, have mobilized, or the 80 AP-HP services which are now fully staffed" to support higher levels of patients if necessary, he added.

Asked about the polyclinic located in the Olympic village north of Paris, and whose free care the American athlete Ariana Ramsey praised on social media, Mr. Valletoux replied that it was not "not a French specificity".

"It is part of the Olympic charter and the specifications. In each Olympiad, there is free care for athletes. This is not a French specificity, it is part of the solidarity that prevails in the Olympic charters and the Olympic spirit.", he stressed.

Pair of glasses

He recalled that the Olympic Organizing Committee, the Cojo, "takes care of the financing" : doctors and caregivers from AP-HP mainly welcome patients but the care is reimbursed by social security "to the nearest euro".

The rugby player posted a video online showing herself delighted to have been able to benefit from free tests (a smear test and a dental check-up) and care (a pair of glasses).

The video has sparked many comments on social networks. Some saw it as proof of the quality of the French health system, while others questioned the financing of these tests while the French health insurance system is accumulating deficits.