Health Minister Yannick Neuder visits the emergency department of Sainte Musse Hospital in Toulon

" But why are you here?" In the reception hall of Sainte Musse Hospital in Toulon, it's time for introductions: "I'm the Minister of Health. But given the turnover in the government, I can understand why we need to update the records," smiles Yannick Neuder, the Minister for Health and Access to Healthcare.

With small, round blue glasses and easy contact, the trained doctor made a series of visits to the various departments. From the emergency medical assistance service (SAMU) control room to the healthcare access service (SAS), including the emergency reception and cardiology, the state representative went "into the field" .

"The Army of White Coats"

"We're seeing between 70 and 80 patients a day and 5 to 10 hospitalizations," says Audrey Bersani, head of the pediatric emergency department. Among the patients are many tourists who have suffered heatstroke, drowning, and domestic accidents.

A doctor interrupts the visit: "Emergency pregnant woman, please move aside!" "Thank you for everything you're doing. I'm completely satisfied with all the teams," says the government official. But are healthcare professionals, under pressure from the influx of tourists to the region during the summer and faced with staff shortages due to absenteeism and vacation time, as satisfied?

"Attention, stretcher, make way!" In the emergency department, which records 100,000 admissions per year, Dr. Vincent Carret, a practitioner for 35 years and a delegate of the Association of Emergency Physicians of France, calls out to the minister: "We are paying close attention to the words of the President of the Republic who has raised his alert level. But we must not forget that the second army is the army of white coats. We will be on all fronts. So we must not sacrifice health." Message received by the State representative, who leaves with a letter asking the government to "rearm hospitals."

"We are all responsible for the budget"

At the end of the visit, Yannick Neuder, accompanied by Josée Massi, the mayor of Toulon (1), and the deputies Laure Lavalette, Frédéric Boccaletti, and Stéphane Rambaud, praised "the strong commitment of the medical community and elected officials, whatever their political orientations" .

And to announce: "We are all responsible for the budget, so we must realize that if nothing is done, we are heading towards an insolvent system in 2027. I am not convinced that the more money we put in, the better we are cared for." Among the solutions put forward: "cost-saving measures" in services, or better "prevention work on vaccination," with the announcement of a major campaign against meningitis and the papillomavirus at the start of the school year.

"The idea is not to save money at the expense of healthcare, but to organize ourselves better," explains Yannick Neuder, "particularly through the use of artificial intelligence in the management of administrative tasks and thus allow caregivers to spend more time with patients."

The Minister of Health cites Spain as an example, where he will be visiting next week, and hopes for "a shift in France to digitize these time-consuming tasks." He concludes: "The effectiveness of AI is no longer in doubt, but these tools must be readily accepted by healthcare professionals, both in hospitals and private practice."

1. The mayor of Toulon was accompanied by members of the municipal council, including Geneviève Levy, Virginie Pin, and Caroline Depallens.