By Shweta Desai
PARIS (AA) - French hospitals have closed more than 4,300 beds due to staff constraints, according to figures published by the Health Ministry on Wednesday.
As of December 2021, the number of beds across nearly 3,000 healthcare institutions declined by 4,316, the figures showed.
The capacity of hospital beds went down by 1.1%, leaving only 382,587 beds in use.
The figures are lower in comparison with the 4,900 beds closed in 2020, but overall at a slightly higher rate than in the pre-pandemic years.
The decline in the number of beds in the last two years was greater than during the 2013-2019 period with minus 0.9% per year on average.
Several institutions were temporarily forced to stop accepting patients in non-emergency departments and to free up staff resources for critical care services.
In recent years, the shortage of health professionals has become extreme in France, forcing hospitals to close beds and emergency services. Hospital employees have cited extreme fatigue due to overwork besides lower salaries as reasons for leaving the profession.
Health workers' organizations have urged the government to undertake immediate recruitment of staff so that professional doctors and nurses can focus on the treatment of patients.