They were at the forefront during the Covid and they continue to be every day. They are the general practitioners of the region who yesterday met in Grado for the annual congress that covered primary care, gender care and INPS certifications. But the meeting attended by the deputy governor, as well as councilor for health, Riccardo Riccardi, also served to take stock of the situation that is certainly not rosy in the area.
THE NUMBERS
Yes, because i holes in the staff of general practitioners in Friuli Venezia Giulia they are thrilling. In fact, in the region more or less 114 general practitioners are missing. Said so it seems little, but multiplied by over a thousand patients each means that more than 150 thousand people in the area are without coverage as regards the family doctor. Not a few. Concrete answers do not arrive for now, because there is no raw material, doctors, in fact. The Region has tried to lend a hand by removing the burden of bureaucracy from family doctors and providing 130 clinic assistants. It is clear, however, that this is not enough.
STEP FORWARD
The community house it could be one of the answers to trying to tackle the problem at the root. In practice, once the suitable premises have been found, the general practitioners will take over in the community house in rotation to try, first of all to avoid improper access to the emergency room, then to give assistance to those who no longer have the local doctor because he retired. Not at home in this clinic you can also do first aid diagnostics. However, the times remain to be understood, even if the health reform speaks of quick achievements. «It will still take time – explains the president of the Order Guido Lucchini – and in the meantime, while underlining that the situation on the staff front in the region is serious, we will try to improve the organization more and more to try to give answers to everyone. but it won’t be easy ».
THE ASSESSOR
«Family doctors especially during the pandemic – recalled the commissioner Riccardi – represented a pillar with their presence, professionalism, commitment, self-denial and sacrifice. The hope of all the Regions – he went ahead – is that the next government will take those decisions that cannot be postponed, starting with the reform between public health and general medicine ”. As regards the congress that was held yesterday, the exponent of the Fedriga junta underlined the importance of this moment of confrontation which has allowed us to deepen new knowledge on gender medicine, to develop health sensitivities relating to the mutation of society. . In fact, the congress addressed, among others, the issue of gender medicine which studies the influence of sex and gender (male or female) on the development of the disease and consequently on its treatment. “The family doctor is the main referent of the population within the health system, guaranteeing direct and constant access to his patients”.
THE MEMORY
During the conference, the deputy governor and all the doctors recalled the figure of Antonino Cataldo, 66, from Aviano, one of the first general practitioners who lost their lives in Friuli Venezia Giulia due to Covid. Cataldo – added Riccardi – never spared himself and even when little was known about the virus and its effects, he always went to patients’ homes to bring assistance, treatments and even a word of comfort. Antonino Cataldo is undoubtedly the emblem of the self-denial of a category that still today does not carry out a profession, but a mission.