French government utilises taxi drivers to support health workers during COVID-19

Taxi drivers have been utilised by the French government to help support healthcare workers during the coronavirus outbreak.

The President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, announced last week a series of measures to support healthcare workers. Among them, was the mobilisation of taxis for the staff of hospitals and public and private social medical establishments.

Given the low activity of taxi companies, the service has not be offered as part of a requisition, but instead as a standard hospital service.

The healthcare staff primarily concerned are those exceeding the usual daily or weekly hours worked or those assigned in a coronavirus crisis unit, or staff mobilised by establishments far from their home.

The French government also said that the taxi service must also be available for staff who find themselves without personal or public transport arrangements.

The following methods are proposed to support the system; the government will pay all costs back to each hospital using taxis, and have encouraged hospitals to use taxi providers already set up to ease administrative processes.

One taxi driver working in Paris said: “French Government today March 24th 2020 launched its mobilisation of taxis in France for hospitals staff and nursing staff.”

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