There are about 164 thousand seriously ill Covid patients who will not pay the ticket on visits and exams until 2023. Because viruses can leave their mark for a long time with a syndrome that has already been renamed by experts internationally as “Long Covid” and for this the health minister Roberto Speranza announced that in the next decree Sostegni expected next week in the council of ministers will allocate 50 million for an experimental protocol that will concern precisely the patients who have tried the most serious forms of Covid with a hospitalization.
The experimental protocol for Long Covid
The protocol provides that all patients affected by severe form of Covid-19, discharged from hospitalization and judged cured – according to the ISS estimates it would be about 164 thousand Italians (more than a third in Lombardy) -, will be able to benefit from two years, free of charge and with the total exemption of the ticket, of the diagnostic and specialist outpatient services of the National Health Service which are part of the follow-up activities on the possible consequences of the virus. A follow-up that will also serve to acquire information on the outcomes of this pathology, still to be investigated just a year and a half after its appearance: the so-called Long Covid. «The coronavirus can leave, in patients who have had it in severe form, consequences even after recovery. This is why I have proposed that 50 million euros be allocated for the NHS to take charge of all the patients most affected by the virus free of charge, with diagnostic tests and therapies, even after discharge from the hospital “.
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No performance tickets
About 50 million euros will be allocated until 2023, which should be divided into over 24 million euros for the current year, about 20 million for 2022 and just under 6 million euros for 2023. Resources that will be needed precisely for the “National Experimental Monitoring Protocol”, which provides for the provision – free of charge – of outpatient specialist services contained in the essential levels of assistance deemed appropriate – also based on the severity of the patient’s symptoms – for monitoring, prevention and the early diagnosis of any outcomes or complications, for people who over time could report chronic effects following a Covid-19 disease with a severe clinical picture.
Exempted visits and exams
The package of services provided will include those for the control of the most affected functions, respiratory, cardiac, renal and blood coagulation: we will therefore go from blood tests – tests such as blood count, ESR, creatinine, just to name a few – to the electrocardiogram dynamic, from spirometry to the gait test, up to the chest CT scan. The patients most affected by this protocol will be mainly elderly, who could have cardiac and pulmonary consequences and in whom it is essential to identify the development of pulmonary fibrosis or heart disease early. A multidisciplinary evaluation is also provided for older patients and in particular for those undergoing intensive or sub-intensive therapy there is also a psychological interview.