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IN a world’s first such case a health minister is currently facing probe for mishandling of pandemic management.
Former health minister of France, Agnès Buzyn, is facing investigation over the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Buzyn served in office from 2017 until 2020. Prosecutors looking into government failings are investigating Agnès Buzyn for endangering lives of people.
Buzyn left the post in February 2020 to run for Paris mayor, saying Covid was low risk. But she later spoke of knowing a tsunami was approaching. This is one of the world’s first cases of a minister facing probe for their pandemic response.
Now a special court that was set up in France in 1993 to investigate government ministers accused of misconduct will take a call on whether to prosecute her. The wording of one of the charges being investigated is failing to fight a disaster, according to a news report.
At a court hearing on Friday, the 58-year-old minister said she welcomed the chance to explain herself and to establish the truth. She said she was ready for the probe.
She added that she would not let the government’s actions or her own be discredited when we did so much to prepare our country for a global health crisis.
Buzyn took up the role as France’s health minister in May 2017 and resigned just a few weeks after the first Covid-19 cases were confirmed in France. She lost the Paris mayoral election to Anne Hidalgo. The former doctor then joined the cabinet of World Health Organization (WHO) head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in January 2021.
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The announcement comes as part of a wider investigation into the government’s pandemic response, including its preparedness, policy changes, and its reception of scientific research into the virus.
France’s current health minister Olivier Véran reportedly could also be summoned before the same judges in the coming weeks.
France has till now reported close to 6.7 million cases and more than 113,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
