BELLUNO The Specialist Outpatient Federation, Union of Italian Doctors Outpatient Specialist (Fesba) intervenes on the shortage of doctors. It does so with the spokesman Gianniantonio Cassisi, Fespa AULSS 1 Dolomitica Associative Terminal. We report the full document.
I want to be part of the increasingly compelling confrontation of the shortage of doctors in our province of Belluno. It is not clear what is the concrete commitment, current but above all future, to avoid the loss or closure of indispensable and precious services for our territory, in the face of deserted competitions. We would like to overlook, but it is not possible, the miserable policies that have led to this serious situation. There are services, often kept standing only thanks to administrative acrobatics or, worse, the exploitation of medical staff, in addition to contractual duties and often without gratifications: plus-hours almost never paid, postponement of holidays, overload of patients for the family doctor (well over 1,500 patients expected), unification of the emergency medical services, use of outpatient specialists to cover hospital shortages. Policies that, again with a view to saving for Regions and Universities, in the first two decades of the 21st century have led to a reduction in access to medical degree courses, qualifying courses for local medicine and specialist disciplines, contracting in the at the same time, with a view to saving, the staff of the territory and hospitals, without far-sighted planning. And now here we are! We pay the bill, we Belluno more than the others: our province is not attractive for young doctors looking for their first job. There are equally serious shortcomings in more comfortable workplaces (plains and cities) or, perhaps, more prestigious ones (universities and first-level hospitals). The recent increase in the number of admissions to medical courses and specialties will be worth little, a positive step, but insufficient. The province of Belluno is seriously lacking in hospital management, in local medicine and in outpatient specialization: there would be room for everyone! Already now there are local medical centers without owners, departments at risk of closure and lack of specialist service. The family doctors who entered with the 1980 reform have all retired or will retire in a few years. The hospital medical management, a sector where turnover has been strongly opposed, is now also moving towards retirement or, worse, fleeing to more peaceful and dignified jobs. The COVID pandemic has only brought out problems that have long been known to insiders. Are there few doctors? In Belluno there are even fewer! The policy of closed numbers (born due to the overabundance of doctors in the 80s and 90s), can only partially justify this lack of ours. The proposal to facilitate doctors from outside the province with incentives or housing or organizational facilities recurs several times in these times. A valid hypothesis, but always viable? Why don’t we try to look around the house? How come the province of Belluno has not been able to express a sufficient number of “local” doctors? Yet in the last 20 years there have been thousands of graduates who could have tried the path of the medical profession, a very demanding and very long path. And have we been able to offer job opportunities in their own land, in their social fabric, to our young Belluno graduates in medicine? Some have chosen to stay, but how many have had or wanted to emigrate and how many could have been detained? The conclusion of this examination wants to overcome controversy and conspiracy! What has been done has been done, but it can still be changed! Can the Bodies that govern our territory and the political representatives take on the burden of working (not only in auspices), so that young people from Belluno enter the medical profession, now, not in 10 years, with concrete projects and in the union of intentions? For example, starting from high school, presenting the beauty and importance of the medical profession in our mountain territory. It is necessary and necessary to plan the shortcomings in the next 5 years (starting from the account of the current shortages and the upcoming retirements) and to intervene, also with economic support projects, for Belluno students of training in General Medicine and specialization. For example, the Veneto Region already assigns specialization grants to young doctors, with the obligation of staying in the area for a certain period. Why not think of it as a Belluno project? A trainee costs about 25,000 euros gross per year, a general practitioner about 11,000 euros. Why not think about it? If we believe that the health service is essential in disadvantaged lands like ours, this would become a priority investment, not too expensive for local authorities.