The COVID crisis reveals how patients’ and associations’ role is poorly recognised (Newspaper Le Monde 2020.07.06)

In this newspaper article, three members of the French association Renaloo (kidney failure) make an unanimous  statement : Associations of Health Users were forgotten in the heart of the sanitary crisis :

• There were no official recommendations for « at risk » people.
• Associations had to establish themselves « Recommendations for patients » based on international recommendations or those from other countries. ;
• Nothing was set up to allow « at risk » people to stop working as soon as the crisis started ;
• Cooperation with patients and their associations was considered incidental and with no priority ;
• Despite the collective stakes we all had to face, democracy in health suffered a lot ;
• Never quoted as being part of the various parties committed to protect vulnerable people, nevertheless patient associations were working on all fronts during this period ;
• In France, except a few cases, patients associations have not yet reached the place they deserve in the medical world;
• Government communication about vulnerable people focuses only on older aged people and forgets young and active people who are fragile too.

Nothing should be done without Us !