Rome, April 8 (beraking latest news Salute) – “Today 41% of Italians believe that the health of their region is not ready to face a new emergency. To these are added 20% uncertain, while only 39% are convinced that their region is already equipped today to face a new emergency. There is a plebiscite opinion that today the need to give more resources in terms of financing, but also of personnel to the healthcare of the future is a priority “. These are the data listed by Massimiliano Valeri, general manager of Censis, at the presentation of the project ‘Construction sites for the health of the future’, promoted by Censis in collaboration with Janssen Italia. A project which, he explained, “has the ambition to contribute to the ongoing debate on how to reorganize a more effective and efficient health system for the future”.
“The pandemic – underlined Valeri – has torn the veil on our frailties. We found ourselves vulnerable due to the absence of health facilities spread throughout the territory that would have allowed us to ease the pressure caused by intense peaks in demand for health services, forgetting that we are for years of measures to contain public spending which in fact led to the closure of small hospitals. So – the Dg Censis remarked – we have on the one hand a professed universalism more formal than substantial of the welfare system and health service, and from the another is a rationing of health services and treatments “.
We must dispel, Valeri insisted, the false myth that people spend too much on health care. “If you make an international comparison, spending in Italy accounts for 6.5% of GDP, far below what is spent in other large European countries such as France (9.4% of GDP) or Germany ( In addition, in the 5 years preceding the pandemic, i.e. between 2014 and 2019, in Italy there was a decrease in expenditure in real terms of 1.2%, while in the other countries it has grown widely: + 15.1% in France, + 18.4% in Germany. Among all 38 OECD countries, Italy is the only one that has registered a reduction in public health expenditure “.
But to achieve the health of the future “we need to put an end to the era of public spending cuts on health. We will never again have to be surprised and unprepared in the face of a health emergency, public spending on health is an absolute priority”. And the things to focus on, concluded Valeri, “are mainly three indicated by the citizens themselves: prevention (92%), local health care (94%), telemedicine (70). These are the cornerstones of the health of the future”.