New Caledonia’s main territorial (CHT) Gaston Bourret hospital medical committee Chairman, Dr Thierry de Greslan (right). Photo: LNC
New Caledonia - health
Medical authorities have warned New Caledonia's health system has lost 40 percent of its bed capacity, especially in terms of emergency.
The main territorial (CHT) Gaston Bourret hospital medical committee Chairman, Dr Thierry de Greslan, told reporters last Thursday the situation was "unprecedented".
Out of the previously available 800 beds for the whole of New Caledonia, 300 had to be closed.
De Greslan said this was mainly due to mass departures from medical practitioners, who had left New Caledonia since the insurrectional riots broke out in mid-May 2024.
The shortage of qualified practitioners means nurses who have not left are now faced with a heavier workload, especially in the emergency department.
"At emergencies, we have brought in stretchers to allow patients to wait in the least bad conditions," De Greslan told local media.
"We're just faced with a situation where we simply don't have the means to meet the demands."
Guillaume Lemoine is the new French Ambassador to Samoa. Photo: Ministère des Affaires étrangères
France appoints ambassador in Apia
France has appointed its first resident ambassador in Apia since diplomatic relations were established between the two countries in 1971.
He is Guillaume Lemoine, who was previously head of mission in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea from 2020-2024, and was appointed by decree dated 6 January 2025.
During a Pacific tour in July 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the opening of a new embassy in Apia.
Until now, the French Ambassador residing in Wellington, New Zealand, was also accredited to Samoa.
The opening of the new French embassy was described as a way of "strengthening links" with France and more specifically its three Pacific territories of New Caledonia, French Polynesia, and Wallis and Futuna.
The new embassy is also tasked to "facilitate France's engagement" with Apia-based SPREP (Pacific Regional Environment Programme), a French Foreign Affairs statement said.
In addition to the missions located in Canberra, Australia and Wellington, the other French embassies in the neighbouring Pacific islands states are located in Suva, Fiji and Port Moresby.
The embassy in Port Vila, Vanuatu, was destroyed on 13 December 2024 by a 7.3 magnitude quake.
French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. Photo: Ministère des Armées
Pacific - aircraft carrier
French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to deploy to the Pacific later this year.
France's 261-metre aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle is to be deployed to the Pacific later this year, as part of an exercise codenamed "Clémenceau 25".
French Naval Command Etat-Major's Commodore Jacques Mallard told a French media briefing that the main objective of the planned exercise, labelled a "high-level strategic posture", was to boost aero naval interoperability, as well as information and intelligence sharing.
The exact date of the 2025 deployment has not yet been disclosed, even though Commodore Mallard said in November it would be "very soon".
Clémenceau 25 spanning over "almost four months", would fall under an international 20-year 'Strategic Interoperability Framework' signed between French and US naval forces in 2021.
Apart from the US Navy's seventh fleet, the Royal Australian Navy and Japan's Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force are also part of the deployment.
France's main naval bases in the Pacific are located in French Polynesia (Pacific naval command, ALPACI) and New Caledonia.
As part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, France also intends to show it has the capacity to deploy significant means (including the 42,000-ton aircraft carrier) in the most distant regions, including the Pacific.
"To deploy a significant naval force in an area which, during the next ten years, will be the transit point for over 40 percent of the world's Gross Domestic Product, shows France's interest in this area," Mallard told French media.
"The roadmap, with our regional partners, is to foster a free, open and stable Indo-Pacific space within the framework of international law, and to contribute to the protection of our populations and our interests."
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