Paris

THE French health minister said yesterday that the recent heatwave may have killed up to 3000 people, as France's health service was put on an

emergency footing.

''I think we can now qualify what is happening as a genuine epidemic,'' Jean-Francois

Mattei said on state radio.

The government, criticised for failing to act fast enough, recalled medical staff from

holidays under an emergency plan designed to deal with nuclear disasters.

Hospitals also set up refrigerated tents to accommodate victims of the heatwave, which has seen temperatures top 40C (104F).

The national health authority, part of the health ministry, said the death toll estimate of 3000 included people killed directly and indirectly by the heatwave since July 25, and was based on extrapolation from figures for Paris.

Victims were mainly elderly people with heat-related conditions, such as hypothermia and dehydration.

''Some were seriously ill anyway and the heat accelerated their illness,'' a health authority official said.

The French toll has already exceeded the 2600 who died in a 1998 heatwave in India. A killer heat in Chicago claimed more than 500 lives in 1995 and there were 900 heat-related deaths in Athens in 1987.

Death toll figures from the current heatwave were far lower in countries bordering on France. It was not clear whether that was because of different ways of registering the cause of death.

In Italy, doctors said around 70 people had died indirectly in recent days from the heat, with temperatures exceeding 40C.

''Perhaps the Italians were better prepared,'' said the official at the French health authority, who asked not to be named. ''We're not used to such heat in Paris.''

In Germany, there were no official figures for heat-related deaths.

French undertakers have seen a 37% increase in business from August 6-12 compared to the same period last year, the health authority said.

They were set to work today, a national holiday, when they would normally be closed.

Mattei said the holiday weekend would be difficult, although forecasters predicted the worst of the heat was over.

Despite a reputation for one of the world's best health services, France was caught unprepared for the heatwave as many medical staff were on holiday.

Opposition politicians have accused the government of failing to tackle the crisis, but Mattei said he would not resign.

Family members of victims lashed out at the government.

''It's scandalous. The government has done nothing,'' said Martine Flou, whose 70-year-old mother's body had to be brought to a morgue in Paris from their home 50 miles away.

''We live in the provinces, and my mother had to be transferred here because there was no space in their morgues,'' she said.

Temperatures are easing across France but remained high yesterday, registering about 31C in Paris.

''The heatwave is over,'' said Patrick Galois, a forecaster with Meteo France.- Reuters/AP