A medical guard “dismounts” from his shift and takes turns with… nobody. It happens, more and more often, a Ferriere, in Ottone, in Bettola. A little throughout the mountain, at least where the continuity assistance service still exists. In the more peripheral areas it is difficult to find doctors available and willing to play this role, among those who could do it (which are not many).
In mountain resorts, the emergency medical service should be on duty during the “working week” from 8 in the evening to 8 in the morning. Saturdays and Sundays for all 24 hours. On weekends, a doctor can cover a maximum of one 12-hour shift, then, by law, he must give way to another. So in 24 hours two professionals have to alternate to take over. This happens more and more rarely. The difficulty in managing shifts. This can happen, always more frequently, what happened last Saturday in the capital of Alta Valnure. A woman knocks on the medical guard for an urgent need, but there is no one left. The nearest medical guard is in Bettola, in the headquarters of the Casa della Salute. But the lady doesn’t drive, she doesn’t have a car and she doesn’t know how.
How come, in recent months, the scene has come back more frequently? Probably because doctors are more engaged in the business of anti-Covid vaccination. Especially in the first phase, the Ausl asked for everyone’s commitment to mass vaccinate the population. For several weeks there were six vaccination points in the area in operation (Piacenza Expo and former Arsenale in the city, Fiorenzuola, Castelsangiovanni, Bobbio and Bettola). In addition, the activity of administering the vaccine, numbers in hand, it is much more profitable compared to that of “medical guard”. This is why the balance hangs to one side and the mountain remains uncovered.
It is not a problem born with Covid. The decline in the number of general practitioners (the classic “family doctors”) and the gradual disappearance of “medical guards” are becoming more and more dramatic. Organizational choices that have been questionable at a national level in recent decades are now having repercussions, mercilessly, on the territories. In Ausl it could be pointed out that, looking at the map of the medical guards (those still existing in the area), it would be more fundamental to preserve the service in the places much further away from Piacenza. The “uncovering” of a medical on-call shift a Piacenza, Fiorenzuola or San Nicolò – the first two have a hospital and an emergency room, the third is a stone’s throw from the city – it would have fewer consequences than Morfasso, Ottone or Ferriere.
«We understand the problems of the Ausl – comments the mayor of Ferriere Carlotta Oppizzi – unfortunately there are no doctors, they are doing everything possible to keep the shifts covered, but it is difficult. We relate to the Ausl, but really, it can’t be done differently ». To Brass you try to team up. “Unfortunately it happens that the service fails due to lack of staff – explains the mayor Federico Beccia, that he is also a general practitioner – and together with Ausl we try to stop the situation. For example, when the service is not guaranteed, we family doctors of Valtrebbia are alerted in time, in order to make ourselves available in case of need. I must say that all the doctors in our area make themselves available and available in those situations ».
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