Genoa, two hundred medical students in the square to ask for more training

Genoa. “The alarm is not only for us students, whose training has been seriously compromised, but also for all those who in the future will have to turn to the National Health Service: we are concerned about the quality of the doctor that each of us will be”. “Only knowledge, zero skills”, “Less telematics, more practice”. Hundreds of white coats took to the streets this morning with slogans and placards: are the medical students of the University of Genoa, who with a sit-in in Piazza De Ferrari are demonstrating against the lack of internships in the ward.

“We turn to all those who in various capacities are responsible for the training of the students of the degree course of Medicine and Surgery of the University of Genoa – explain the demonstrators – We are forced to mobilize and take to the streets, because every attempt we make at confrontation institutional was not profitable. We demand to be trained as per the right and needs of every student of Medicine and Surgery. The start of the internships in the ward was scheduled for October 2020. This could not happen for reasons known to all and which we clearly understand, despite the fact that there are examples of universities where these activities have been carried out. The prospect we profiled was that of a return to the ward starting from May 2021, but despite this, attempts to reopen were minimal and isolated in the sixth year.

The organization of the vaccination campaign prevented this from happening for the students of the other years as they were not considered a priority. Although our colleagues from other universities or attending other degree courses in the same University of Genoa in the health sector have been vaccinated and put in a position to be able to attend the wards. The vaccination, albeit with considerable delay, was aimed at restoring the frequency of hospital activity starting from October 2021. However, with inadequate notice and without official justifications, the leave was broken a few days before the start of the ‘academic year’.
To overcome the problem of the few places in the ward, on the proposal of the students, for more than a year the extension of the agreements with other hospitals in the region had begun. “This intent has not yet been achieved for various reasons, including a peripheral block by the ASLs and a failure to take charge of the students by some Department Managers of the other hospitals.
As for the surveillance visits, on the other hand, the competence lies with the Department of Occupational Medicine which, however, is slowed down due to an understaffed situation that does not allow the fulfillment of tasks with an acceptable timing. This is the umpteenth consequence of the cuts in public health, further aggravated by the inadequate Ligurian management ”.

The new program foresees that internships start in the last days of December for the fifth year, while only from March 2022 for the fourth year. “We are forced to condense in a short period of time the training activities that are normally distributed over several years, causing an important qualitative damage to our professional training. All this in the face of taxes aimed at covering the services we have not used for two years. Payments, however, have never been suspended, but only postponed.
Ours is a request for respect and consideration by the responsible institutions, in relation not only to the failure to provide internships, but also to the ways in which this was communicated “.