"Obviously, I own up to my share of responsibility in this tragedy, but I reject any notion that the public authorities did not work properly," Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper.

His defence of the handling of the crisis came after the deadly two-week heatwave broke, to be replaced by an outcry from doctors and the political opposition that the government underestimated the disaster and failed to act fast enough.

The persistent temperatures of around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) hit elderly people the worst, particularly those who lived alone in apartments in Paris and other cities, according to authorities.

France's traditional month-long vacation period in August aggravated the situation, since many hospitals were under-staffed and neighbourhood doctors were away.

By the time the government did act last Thursday -- launching a national emergency plan, boosting hospital beds and staff, and setting up temporary morgues -- the heatwave was receding.

Raffarin, speaking from his holiday residence in the French Alps, accused those criticising the government response as "playing this little game" and insisted that he and his ministers had remained contactable during their own vacations.

"We were all ready to act," he said.

But the head of the opposition Socialist party, Francois Hollande, told the Journal du Dimanche that Raffarin's government was guilty of "a lack of anticipation -- everybody knew the heatwave was going to last; a lack of vigilance -- the public alerts weren't taken seriously; and a lack of response."

He added: "It's the entire government that is on the spot for what I would call ... a serious leadership problem."

The fallout from the crisis was likely to give more momentum to public dissatisfaction with some government policies and threatened to widen demonstrations and strikes expected next month, when the country returns from its summer break.

With that in mind, Raffarin and the government were keen to deflect the finger-pointing.

Visiting a retirement home to emphasise his point, Raffarin blamed the crisis on the general neglect of senior citizens in France.

Noting that half of those who succumbed to the intense heat died at home rather than in hospitals, Raffarin said the "loneliness of old people is a deep fault in French society."

It was a problem that can only get worse, he said, with the number of people above the age of 85 likely to double in the next 10 years.

Raffarin called for "national solidarity" with the elderly and appealed to families and neighbors not to be indifferent to "the loneliness and sometimes the abandoning" of old people behind "closed shutters."

Health Minister Jean-Francois Mattei, who on Thursday admitted the death toll from the heatwave may be as high as 3,000, was due to give a news conference later Sunday to detail measures being taken by hospitals.

For its part, the state hospitals authority for Paris said Sunday that the situation was now "satisfactory and under control" and back to levels seen before the heatwave.

It said staff were "very tired" from the previous days, when they were unable to keep up with the numbers of heat prostration patients turning up.

TERRA.WIRE