• Few specialists, military physicians could arrive in Molise
  • Medical shortage: out of 56 thousand doctors in 15 years, 42 thousand will be replaced
  • Maneuver, two days of doctors' strike in January

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June 23, 2019

E 'emergency for the lack of doctors in hospitals and emergency rooms: "To date, there are at least 8 thousand less than the needs, of which 2 thousand just in the emergency room - says the secretary of the medical union Anaao Ana, Carlo Palermo - An emergency that has been present for a long time, but that will get worse in the summer with the staff's leave ". Even the emergency services 118 are" collapsing - complains the president Sis 118 Mario Balzanelli - In some cases they have had to suspend holidays to guarantee assistance ".

"We cannot continue to ignore the situation of emergency services 118: there is a serious shortage of 118 doctors and nurses in all the Regions - Balzanelli states - and the situation will worsen in the Summer, a period in which instead requests for relief increases by over a third, especially in coastal areas. It is about saving lives and with these numbers emergency assistance cannot be guaranteed ".

In Milan only 5 emergency vehicles with a doctor on board
The numbers, explains Balzanelli, "speak for themselves: in Milan, for example, we have only 5 emergency vehicles with a doctor on board, including ambulances and medical cars, while in Bologna there are only 2 rescue vehicles with a doctor". But the situation "is a bit of an emergency in all of Italy. In Taranto, for two years, we had to suspend the holiday of 118 doctors just to guarantee the service". Now, in view of the summer holidays and the foreseeable increase in the request for emergency services, he underlines, "we have foreseen an increase in the number of ambulances on the territory, as far as possible, but the problem is that there are no doctors and therefore ambulances will have to board only the driver-rescuer ". Even the largest union of medical executives, Anaao-Assomed, speaks of "emergency situation", stating that the alarm for the shortage of doctors "is an issue that the unions have been denouncing for some time".

At least 8-10 thousand fewer doctors nationwide. Central and southern hospitals suffer in particular
At the national level, Palermo states, "we register at least 8-10 thousand doctors less than the requirement and this due to the blockage of the turn-over from 2009. Now the most penalized sector is precisely that of the emergency and of the Emergency Room, where the doctors in less are about 2 thousand ". Suffering, he emphasizes, "is greater in Central-Southern hospitals: in Molise, Sicily, Calabria, Lazio and Campania, hospitals in fact register 30% less than the organic allocation compared to 2009". And with the next summer holidays of the medical and health staff there will be a "further burden to which we are trying in some cases to make up for, for example - notes Palermo - to recent graduates, retired or foreign doctors". As for the hypothesis of the Minister Trenta to send military doctors to Molise, "we are in an emergency and therefore this measure is welcome if feasible, but the structural solution - he concludes - is in the Calabria decree just approved".

Thirty: we evaluate the sending of military doctors to Molise
"We are examining the possibility of sending military doctors to Molise to deal with the shortage of health personnel in hospitals, but at the moment we have not yet found a solution, we are continuing to look for it" said Defense Minister, Elisabetta Trenta, today in Campobasso on a private visit to watch the 'Mysteries' parade.