At least 840 paediatricians are missing in Italy and each one must follow at least 100 children over the maximum threshold of 800 children to be assisted each, with peaks of over 1,000 assisted in Piedmont, Tuscany and the Province of Bolzano. This was reported by the Gimbe Foundation which speaks of families increasingly in difficulty with large regional differences. In absolute terms, the national average is 896 patients per doctor and at the regional level only Umbria (784), Sardinia (788), Sicily (792) and Molise (798) remain below the ceiling without exceptions; 17 Regions instead exceed the average of 800 patients, of which Piedmont (1,092), the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (1,060) and Tuscany (1,057) exceed the average of 1,000 patients. Between 2019 and 2021 these professionals affiliated with the national health service have decreased by 5.5% and the mechanisms for calculating the needs seem to be unable, according to an analysis by the Gimbe Foundation which speaks of families increasingly in difficulty with large regional differences. “The alarm on the lack of paediatricians of free choice – says Nino Cartabellotta President of the Gimbe Foundation – today is raised by parents of all Regions, from North to South with narratives where bureaucratic issues intertwine, lack of answers from the ASL , paediatricians with exorbitant numbers of patients, up to the impossibility of exercising the right to enroll one’s children with the family paediatrician with potential health risks, especially for the youngest and most fragile”.
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