Raoult ‘banned’ in France and honoured in Senegal

The French doctor Didier Raoult, on a visit to Dakar, was received by the Minister of Health and Social Action, Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, and by the Head of State of Senegal, Macky Sall, who elevated him to the dignity of Commander in the National Order of the Lion.

Banned in France where he is called a charlatan by many of his peers, Professor Didier Raoult was honoured in Senegal, where he has been staying for several days. The white coat was received on Tuesday by the Minister of Health and Social Action, Abdoulaye Diouf Sarr, and by the Head of State of Senegal, Macky Sall, who honoured him by raising him to the dignity of Commander in the National Order of the Lion.

According to the Senegalese authorities, Didier Raoult’s visit to Dakar is part of his research on the emergence of Covid-19 variants. The Ministry of Health and Social Action said that during his stay in Senegal, the Professor will « exchange with Senegalese researchers on the response to the pandemic » of Coronavirus.

Read: Senegal, Moussa Seydi confirms Didier Raoult: « Patients recover faster with Chloroquine

The Ministry of Health and Social Action added that the exchanges of the 69-year-old Professor of Medicine born in Dakar, Senegal, a specialist in infectious diseases, who heads the University Hospital Institute of Infectious Diseases in Marseille, with the Senegalese authorities are « also about the transfer of technology in research ».

It should be noted that the Marseille University Hospital Institute of Infectious Diseases collaborates in the field of research on Covid-19 with the Institute of Research for Development (IRD), a French organisation represented in Senegal. It is also a partner of the Institute for Health Research, Epidemiological Surveillance and Training (IRESSEF), directed by Professor Souleymane Mboup and based in Diamniadio, (30km from Dakar).

Didier Raoult, who teaches at the Faculty of Medical and Paramedical Sciences in Marseille, became world famous when his team proposed a treatment against the devastating Covid-19, based on hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, which, even if it has caused controversy in the research world, seems to be the only treatment that, in Africa, as in Europe, is used to treat Coronavirus patients who are cured in the world, by tens of thousands, every day.