Among the many patients who feel neglected due to the new wave of contagion caused by the Omicron variant there are also rheumatic ones. In fact, two years after the start of the pandemic, rheumatology wards and clinics are once again suffering. This was reported by the National Association of Rheumatic Patients, which receives daily reports from patients and caregivers of cases in which they are missing check-ups and the administration of therapies.
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Five million patients
In Italy there are over 5 million Italians with a rheumatological disease. They are very common diseases that affect not only the elderly but also adults, young people and even children and can seriously compromise the quality of life. They represent a major public health problem and care has been partially compromised over the past year. “To ensure assistance to patients with Coronavirus, chronically ill patients with rheumatology, more or less serious, risk being abandoned to themselves”, denounces Silvia Tonolo, national president of Anmar.
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Anmar’s appeal
This fourth wave is seriously putting at risk many patients whose pathologies certainly do not wait for the Covid emergency to pass. And this is why the Anmar launches the appeal: “Like a year ago – Tonolo affirms – we are again asking the health institutions, both local and national, to make a greater effort not to interrupt assistance to millions of men and women. , residing in our country, with a rheumatological pathology. We are fully aware of the extremely difficult time that the entire national health system is experiencing. At the same time, however, the right to health must be guaranteed for all those people who are already struggling with chronic diseases and which can be very dangerous. Above all, constant monitoring and timely therapeutic intervention must always be ensured. The real risk is that in the next few months we could see an increase in remissions of the most serious forms of arthritis or other diseases “.
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The example of the Campania region
A positive example is reported in the Campania Region which with a recent resolution established the “non-suspension of hospitalizations and specialist activities for patients suffering from rare diseases and immunological diseases, for transplant patients and for chronic and fragile patients”. The decision was taken following a solicitation from the Campania sections of the CReI (Italian rheumatologists college), of the SIR (Italian Society of Rheumatology) and of the Coordination of Associations of patients with rheumatological, immunological and rare diseases. “This is good news and we hope that the Regions, in which there are similar problems, will take a good example – concludes Tonolo. As a patient association we are ready to collaborate with institutions and to ensure our support. Rheumatological diseases cannot be underestimated and must always be countered despite the terrible storm, called Covid-19, against which we have all been fighting for the past two years “.
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