E’ among the youngest family doctors serving in our region: he is just 31 years old, he is from Casacalenda and has a training diploma in General medicine (a three-year postgraduate course organized by the Regions, with a limited number and which can be accessed via an entrance test) only one month before being assigned to Castelmauro.
The usual recommended, someone may think: a permanent and prestigious position a stone’s throw from home, but who gives it to you these days? Wrong, in Molise all this is not only not impossible, but it is even easier than in other regions because there are few general practitioners and many places to fill.
In Castelmauro, for example, where Asrem appointed the young doctor in mid-May Gian Marco D’Imperio, his predecessor, Sergio Zita (who held that position for 42 years!), had to work as a volunteer after forced retirement in order not to leave around 1200 patients without assistance.
Today at that desk there is a boy who during his studies had responded to the Asrem announcement for the so-called lacking areas (including Castelmauro) where even in the months to come there will be an important generational change in territorial medicine with the risk, unfortunately always concrete, that due to the scarce number of doctors available these areas will continue to remain so.
We talked about it with Dr. D’Imperio, born in 1991 and the son of doctors. Gian Marco, let’s start with you: he came forward while he was still a trainee enrolled in the last year of the specific training course in General Medicine of the Molise Region of which he obtained the title at the beginning of April. What did he think when they gave you the job?
“This assignment was a real surprise for me as I am a doctor of only 30 years and I finished my postgraduate training in General Medicine just over a month ago. I never expected to get an assignment so soon here in Molise, where until a few years ago my colleagues had to wait for decades before getting a job, or emigrating. Today, due to numerous retirements, the situation has totally changed for us young doctors. In fact, in the coming months / years many positions will be freed up and it is possible that some deficient areas will be assigned to colleagues who are still attending the General Medicine course or will even remain uncovered, as is already happening dramatically in the north. I am also happy because I have always wanted to carry out the medical profession and to be able to do it in our region, at the service of the good people who live there, where, unlike what happens in big cities, the doctor / patient relationship is still important. I chose to study at the University of Molise and train here, precisely with a view to being able to stay. I feel very lucky and honored to have this opportunity ”.
How important is territorial medicine in an elderly and depopulated region like ours?
“The demographic data tell us that the Italian population is aging and this is especially true in the south and in Molise, which also suffers from the phenomenon of emigration. The increase in the average age of the population determines a change in the epidemiological picture with a notable aincrease in the incidence of chronic degenerative diseases, for which the best care approach is undoubtedly that of territorial medicine. In my opinion, health care must be brought as much as possible to the patient’s home, or to nearby structures, spread throughout the territory and easy to access for the citizen, also and above all in internal areas. I think that citizens residing in small towns must have the same rights and services as those who live in large cities. The most important aids in territorial medicine are, in addition to general medicine clinics, the continuity assistance stations (medical guard), which are fundamental above all in the internal areas where they guarantee real local and home health care in the nights, on holidays and before holidays; the territorial health emergency stations (118), operational 24 hours a day in the emergency-urgency, which literally save the lives of citizens. A strong, organized and well-rooted territorial medicine guarantees, also through first-level diagnostic tools and telemedicine, continuous assistance over time, prevention, early diagnosis, reduction of improper access to the hospital, and certainly an improvement in the quality of life; what is now defined as taking charge of the citizen. In fact, almost all of them the investments envisaged by the PNRR in health care, also in Molise, go in the direction of strengthening territorial assistance (territorial operations centers, homes and community hospitals, telemedicine, etc.) “.
In our small towns, the family doctor is very often a health point of reference, sometimes the only one, really important. What does this mean for a doctor who has just finished his studies also in terms of human relationships and not just professional ones?
“As I said, my dream has always been to be able to carry out my profession as a doctor in the area. My idea of medicine has always been not just resolution technique a problem of the body, but the creation and continuation over time of a human relationship with the patient and the community. Today, especially in the larger realities, the true meaning of the doctor / patient relationship is being lost, in fact the healthcare professional is often seen as a mere performer of technical procedures; Furthermore, respect for the medical figure has been lost, as evidenced by the verbal and physical violence to which we have become accustomed to the news every day, facts that are driving many young colleagues away from the profession. On the contrary, in my 4 years of activity as a continuity care doctor in various Molise municipalities, I was able to experience firsthand the beauty of human relationships that can be created in the communities of our countries. I have always tried to give my best but I have received much more on a human level. In our Molise there are still many good people, respect and trust are still strong for the figure of the doctor, who truly represents the point of reference not only for health care for the whole community. All this reinforced in me the desire to be able to put myself at the service of our territory, even in this new adventure as a general practitioner “.
After the assignment of general practitioners in various municipalities, Asrem will continue to find doctors in the area by recruiting, as in the case of Gian Marco D’Imperio, also students of the General Medicine training diploma (it is a possibility given by the so-called dl Calabria) to be assigned to the deficient areas of Molise. In this context, therefore, also the connection with the University of Molise plays its part, right?
“The presence of the Faculty of Medicine is a strong pole of attraction for many young people from neighboring regions. Here every year yes churn out dozens of doctors who are immediately used in the Molise territorial services such as medical guard and general medicine replacements, also made it possible to manage the Covid surveillance and assistance system, working as Usca, Contact tracing in the prevention, vaccinations, tampons departments , hospital wards and much more. After all, after graduating from the Casacalenda linguistic high school, I successfully passed the entrance test for Medicine and Surgery of the Department of Medicine and Health Sciences “Vincenzo Tiberio” of Unimol, enabling me to then access the course we were talking about a little while ago that allowed me to be here today ”.
So what would you recommend today to a boy like you who doesn’t want to leave this earth?
Observing the work of my parents I have always wanted to be able to carry out the medical profession, especially in the area. Perhaps unlike many of my peers, I have always loved our Molise and I have always tried to guide my life and training choices with a view to being able to stay and not be forced to emigrate, always asking myself first what I could offer the territory and then what it could offer me “.
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