"A doctor never resigns when faced with sick people," Mattei told the Sunday newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche, adding that the crisis had only reinforced his resolve. "I have nothing to hide. I am not afraid of the truth."

The left-wing opposition has insisted that Mattei resign over the center-right government's handling of the August heat wave, during which temperatures repeatedly reached 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

The minister, accused of failing to quickly implement emergency measures as the death toll mounted, said Friday in a statement that 11,435 more deaths than normal were registered between August 1 and 15, when the heat wave occurred.

Mattei on Sunday warned of an even higher death toll, telling Le Journal du Dimanche there would likely be what he called the "'deferred' deaths" of mainly elderly people worn out by the punishing weather.

"It's a human drama," Mattei said, criticizing the relatives of victims whose bodies remained unclaimed in makeshift morgues outside Paris.

"It's the harsh revelation of a social fracture, of the solitude and isolation of the elderly. I'm revolted by these cadavers that no one has claimed," the minister said.

About 75 corpses remained in morgues on Saturday, officials said, prompting Paris police chief Jean-Paul Proust to grant relatives two extra days to claim the bodies before proceeding with administrative burials of the dead.

The government initially avoided issuing a death toll, but when France's largest chain of undertakers said that some 10,000 had succumbed to the unusually hot weather, officials were forced to respond.

Mattei refused to comment on the level of responsibility borne by the government for the crisis, saying he was expecting to receive by the week's end a report drafted by a team of medical experts on the reasons for the disaster.

"I don't want people to think that we're playing this down, that we're going to turn the page and forget about it. Never!" the minister said.

France's surgeon general Lucien Abenhaim resigned earlier this month amidst the controversy, but later told the media he had alerted authorities to the looming crisis and felt he was a scapegoat.

The government is devising a multi-year action plan to boost care for the elderly, expected to be unveiled in October.

One of the possible measures put forth is to eliminate one of France's 11 public holidays to finance programs for older people, a proposal sharply criticized by unions.

TERRA.WIRE