Reuters
April
14, 2004
PARIS
- Most retirement homes in
France
have failed to carry out pledges to
install air-conditioned rooms that could help save lives if another
heatwave occurs this year, a government official said on Wednesday.
Hubert Falco, junior minister for pensioners, urged retirement homes to
respect promises made after last year's heatwave that killed 15,000 mainly
elderly people, when temperatures passed 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees
Fahrenheit).
"The target is far from being met but it can be met," he told
Europe
1 radio in an interview.
"There is no guarantee that the summer of 2004 will be any cooler
than the summer of 2003."
The conservative government was criticised for its handling of the
heatwave, which killed many more people in
France
than in neighbouring countries
with similar weather. Many of the victims succumbed to dehydration.
A report by a parliamentary commission in February accused the Health
Ministry of passivity and highlighted division and lack of communication
in then Health Minister
Jean-Francois Mattei's team. Mattei was replaced last month in a
reshuffle.
Falco said only 12 percent of public retirement homes and 24 percent of
private retirement homes had air-conditioned common rooms. He said 57
percent of public homes and 68 percent of private homes had promised to
install "cool rooms" before July.
Public financing for the new installations would not be available before
July, he said.
The government has asked French workers to sacrifice one day's holiday a
year to help finance state care for the elderly and disabled. Prime
Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin has said the money will go towards hiring
15,000 nursing staff and creating 10,000 new vacancies in retirement homes
by 2007.
