Socialised Medicine is a good thing...

The Flu season is upon us and it seems to be hitting Europe quite strongly. Hospitals in France -- still having problems since the 15,000 people died this summer -- are gearing up for what may be 2 million cases of Flu Agence France-Presse bq. Over the weekend, emergency departments in the Paris area were overloaded as worried parents brought in hundreds of children suffering from flu, bronchitis or gastroenteritis. In some cases patients had to wait up to seven hours. from Reuters/AFP bq. The French government, criticized for reacting too slowly to a deadly August heat wave, has urged hospitals in Paris to take swift emergency measures to fight an epidemic of flu and gastroenteritis. More than half a million people in France, including many children, have contracted flu, gastroenteritis or bronchitis in recent weeks in an unusually early winter outbreak, and experts say the epidemic has yet to peak. Media coverage of crowded hospital waiting rooms and off-duty health workers being recalled to cope with the influx may have exacerbated the crisis, prompting more people to bypass their doctors and head straight to the hospital. ��The health authorities have added beds and made staff come back to work. They are all scared stiff,�� said Patrick Pelloux, head of the Emergency Hospital Doctors Association. ��We are in a permanent state of crisis, so as soon as there is a problem, the system explodes,�� he told the daily newspaper Lib�ration. The situation comes as France battles to plug a gaping hole in its health budget. Pelloux and other doctors have criticized the government for failing to improve hospital resources since the August heat wave, which killed 15,000 people, most of them elderly. The BBC has a bit more