[Health File] Recruitment of 2,500 agents: "Patients in danger" warns against the risk of falling back into the same old mistakes (2/3)

After giving a voice to experts and health unions on demographic challenges and staff allocation, Seneweb continues its series on the government's announced recruitment of 2,500 healthcare workers. In this second installment, we focus on the heartfelt plea of ​​patients: the "Patients in Danger" collective offers its analysis of the shortcomings of a system on the verge of collapse and warns against the illusion of simply increasing staff numbers.

The announced recruitment of 2,500 healthcare workers has been welcomed, but it will not be enough on its own to resolve the serious difficulties observed in healthcare facilities. The question of overall care conditions remains unresolved. Seneweb raised this issue with the "Patients in Danger" collective, which is raising the alarm about several persistent shortcomings in the healthcare system.

Ms. Penda Faye, a member of the "Patients in Danger" collective, recognizes the importance of increasing staff numbers while stressing that the measure must be accompanied by other measures: quality of care, staff specialization and upgrading of technical facilities.

With an overall shortage estimated at 18,000 staff, strengthening human capital remains a major challenge. But for the collective, recruitment must not overshadow the need for training, specialization, and the equitable distribution of professionals across the country. Particular attention must be paid to the interior regions, where access to specialists remains dramatically limited.

Specialists still too concentrated in Dakar

In several areas of the country, particularly in the South and Southeast, patients still have to travel long distances to major urban centers to access specialized care. The modernization of regional facilities and the sustained presence of qualified medical professionals are therefore among the top priorities for the population.

Also read, the first part: Healthcare system: Why the announcement of 2,500 new hires is only half reassuring

The group also emphasizes the working conditions of staff in the field. The quality of reception, the availability of emergency equipment, and the level of facilities directly influence medical care. "The problem is systemic," summarizes Ms. Faye, who advocates for a comprehensive reorganization of the entire healthcare chain, from initial reception to emergency and specialist services.

To illustrate the sector's shortcomings, she recalls several recent tragedies that have caused widespread outrage: the case of an infant who was allegedly burned in a washing machine in a health facility, that of a newborn wrongly declared dead in a hospital, or that of a woman who gave birth on the ground in front of a health facility due to a lack of rapid care.

Training and specialization: The real emergencies

Beyond these 2,500 new hires, the group calls for an increase in continuing education and specialization opportunities for medical personnel. The key challenge lies in the ability to train highly qualified professionals while establishing mechanisms to attract them and better distribute them between Dakar and the regions inland.

For Ms. Faye, the government announcement must now move beyond mere intentions and materialize. "We need to move towards real action," she insists.

On the ground, the challenge will be to observe the real impact of this measure on patients' daily lives. The group hopes to see these recruitments become part of a structural reform of the care pathway, so that this budgetary effort produces concrete and lasting results, far beyond simply displaying figures.