Readers used to getting their news from the BBC or UK newspapers will know all about overloaded hospitals, patients waiting in A&E on trollies, bed shortages as the NHS is under stress.
Yet viewers to French TV news broadcasts yesterday will have seen very similar scenes and heard Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine, urge hospitals to prepare for even more patients suffering from flu as the epidemic reaches its peak. 143 hospitals have been declared at risk and staff have been recalled from leave. Operations will be postponed and efforts made to free beds - one doctor said "we are human and dont like to leave patients on trollies".
Presently the south west is less hit by the epidemic than elsewhere, but major problems have arisen around Lille, Paris, Lyon and Marseille. One sad result is that in some areas there are delays in funeral services as the death toll rises.
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