A hot autumn was already looming, now with the suspensions of the No vax doctors, it will be even more so for about thirty thousand citizens. They are the ones who have to change the family doctor or have had to do it, not without obstacles, in the last few weeks. In fact, between September and October, nineteen general practitioners checked from the list of those available and now at least four family doctors have been added recently suspended from the Order of Doctors and Dentists of Verona because they did not take steps to get vaccinated. The latter aggravate a situation already beyond the emergency. For every doctor who retires or dies, in fact, one thousand and five hundred patients have to look for another one, who cannot be found. The shortage of general practitioners, in fact, is a serious phenomenon that Verona in particular suffers from, with about a hundred areas unguarded.
The mapping Between September and October, therefore, 13 have retired or will do so in these days. Others have moved to another province or have left for admission to general medical school or for finishing their temporary post. Of these 19 in total, four doctors worked in the city of Verona, five in eastern Verona, four in Villafranchese, one in Roverè, one in Badia Calavena and one in Negrar. To these are added the suspended no vax.
So far, Ulss 9 has tried to stop by asking the doctors in function to increase the maximum number of their patients, but gaining a few hundred places. It also issued eleven notices for provisional assignments, some of which have gone deserted. New recruits will not arrive on the horizon anytime soon and those who are there, having to attend general medicine school, have ceilings of clients halved to 650 each. In two, however, they can cover a doctor who is retiring, as has happened in these days in Villafranca.
The bureaucracy Between the lack of doctors, online dies and late retirement communications, therefore, for citizens they have been and will be weeks of passion. The problem is chronic and widespread also at the national level because, pending a reform of local health care, there are no new doctors or because they have to finish their studies or because they choose other specialties. “They must also be encouraged with a more satisfactory remuneration, otherwise they see it more interesting to go vaccinators or doctors in the Usca, where they are paid much more,” explains the vice president of the Order of doctors, Lucio Cordioli.
The report The Federation of general practitioners of Verona follows the same line: “Family medicine historically fundamental for the trusting and ongoing relationship with people and communities, is no longer attractive for young doctors”, explains the provincial referent Guglielmo Frapporti. “A serious aspect is that among the 19 doctors who are retiring, there are young people who had started the business less than a year – underlines Frapporti -. They are young doctors who have obtained a specialization diploma in family medicine, they were formed because they believed in the values of family medicine, in the relationship of trust, in home care, in the continuity of care, but they did not withstand, bitterly, the impact with the current work organization, aggravated by the pandemic. Family medicine was not boosted as expected. The promises remained empty. Instead of encouraging the entry of young doctors, the latter are attracted to the Usca and diverted to do additional services in vaccination hubs or in contact tracing. We have been asking the Region for some time to meet doctors to analyze problems and find solutions ».