Tunisia-The Minister of Health and the President of the Chamber of Clinics auditioned at the parliament

The committee for health and social affairs within the parliament will hold a hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, November 4, with the Minister of Health, Faouzi Mahdi, and the president of the National Trade Union Chamber of Private Clinics, Boubaker Zakhama , concerning the epidemiological situation linked to the Coronavirus.

This hearing will concern in particular the management of the coronavirus crisis but also the involvement of private clinics in the fight against the pandemic.

Zakhama said that members of the National Trade Union Chamber of Private Clinics were called to answer questions from members of the committee about support mechanisms for public-private partnership in the fight against the Coronavirus. He underlined, in this regard, the need to provide a response to the “scenario of a rapid development of the virus and a growing number of patients”, recalling that the private clinics have made available all the necessary means, in the ‘objective to contribute to efforts to take care of patients suffering from the Coronavirus.

Regarding the capacity of private clinics to welcome Covid-19 patients, which is rapidly accelerating in Tunisia, Zakhama stressed that “private clinics are still able to welcome Coronavirus patients and have not beyond their support capacity ”, within the framework of a public-private partnership.
He said to this end, that private clinics, numbering about 100 clinics, have been made available to people infected with the Coronavirus, with a capacity of 200 ICU beds and 600 beds equipped with artificial respiration, claiming that at least 50% of resuscitation beds are currently vacant, reports TAP Agency.

Regarding the high cost of treating people with coronavirus in private clinics, Zakhama explained that this cost, which includes hospital fees, medical care, medication and other expenses, does not differ from the cost of care. of patients in the public sector, “with the difference that the State subsidizes the cost of treatment in the public sector”