Tribune. The negotiations between the Ramsay Santé Group and the French Red Cross for the takeover of its health centers have the merit of posing with force the possible options for the future of our health system.
The French Red Cross grew out of the movement launched by Henry Dunant, a Franco-Swiss humanist who won the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 for inspiring the Geneva Convention and campaigning for better treatment of war wounded. From this origin will be born an international movement, very present in France with the French Red Cross, which defines itself as “auxiliary of the public authorities in its humanitarian missions”, largely funded by generosity.
The story of his partner is quite different: Ramsay Santé is the French branch of Ramsay Health Care. It was the result of successive acquisitions between major players in the world of private hospitalization between 1987 and 2015, until the merger with the Générale de santé. The takeover of the Red Cross health centers is therefore the subsidiary of a multinational private group, listed on the stock exchange in Sydney, with an estimated capital value of $ 14 billion [12,2 milliards d’euros].
The Red Cross, like the mutuals or many foundations of religious inspiration, is one of the actors of the so-called “non-profit” private sector that manages in particular health facilities, health centers or nursing homes. The Red Cross claims not to be an actor among others but, by its history, to embody more than any other a humanist tradition devoid of any financial interest. Conversely, the general meeting of the Ramsay Group brings into another world, that of capital, surpluses of the year, the health market and prospects for “business”. After the review of the year 2021, the boss of Ramsay even had to reassure his worried investors: he would be the guarantor of the complete independence of the company from the interventionist temptations of governments, especially in Europe.
Disorganization of the system
Our public hospitals are currently being scrutinized for their handling of the crisis, from their previous difficulties to their current problems. And that’s the way it is: our public service is accountable to those who use it because they are sick or finance it with their social security contributions. One of the major topics of this crisis is the link between community medicine and the hospital, access for all to information, prevention or vaccine.
You still have 57.25% of this article to read. The suite is for subscribers only.