In Padua there are 18,000 patients without a general practitioner

Crisarà (Fimmg): «We are only at the beginning of retirement: the numbers will grow even more. The territorial organization must be rethought ”

PADOVA. A year ago there were 7,000 people without a general practitioner in the Padua area. Today they are 18 thousand. The data is updated as of May 31, “at the beginning of the retirement curve” says the president of the Order of doctors, as well as provincial secretary of the Fimmg, the Federation of general practitioners “it is an announced disaster that is taking shape more and more He claims. “In Veneto there are about 3,100 family doctors: by 2026 there will be over a thousand retirees. A third »he continues« this compared to a turnover of 350 doctors in three years: at that point there will be just under a million Venetians without assistance. In this situation, the increase in the ceiling to 1,800 patients per doctor and the possibility of doctors in training to reach up to a thousand patients are more declarations of intent than true solutions, this is because most of the structured doctors are already very close to that. threshold while, once the training is over, the new doctors will already be substantially settled with their patients without being able to accommodate many others ».

The shortage of doctors mainly affects rural, mountainous and dispersed areas where there is a greater need for local assistance: “In Teolo they are covered thanks to the voluntary commitment of Doctor Bellon” continues Crisarà “but what would happen if they lost too?” .

On Monday, Dr. Crisarà met the conference of mayors to try to find a buffer solution: “Now we need to think about changing the territorial organization” continues the secretary of the Fimmg “favoring the aggregation of doctors and freeing up the time of those who are there already in order to allow them to cover the uncovered territories. If in 2015 they had not blocked the integrated medicines, which were still called Utap, we would not be discussing this. And now, in one of the historic ones, like that of Schio, they are even thinking of replacing the secretarial staff with call centers ».

Crisarà accuses the Region and the Usl of leaving the doctors alone: ​​”The Region governs itself and then drops the problems from above,” he says. As for the working table with the Local Health Authority, he adds: «The new director of the Sisp has not yet presented himself. Now we hope that after the meeting with the mayors something will be released ».