by The provincial coordinators of Umbria of Italia Viva
05 DIC – Dear Director,
Protests against healthcare cuts are widespread throughout the Umbria region, and cannot be ignored. They involve health workers, mayors, trade union associations, professionals and above all citizens who see regional health care crumbling before their eyes, compromising their right to health.
The regional council, on the other hand, has been busy for months discussing reshuffles in an incomprehensible power struggle away from the citizens. The replacement of the health commissioner is requested and at the same time it is argued, against all evidence, that all is well with regard to health care. Make up your mind.
Meanwhile, the accounts are out of control with the risk of receivership. There is talk of a hole of about 200 million, but the region tends to justify itself with the higher expenses for the epidemic and with an alleged inherited deficit. It is true that various regions present critical issues, to each its own, but we cannot forget the greater funding received from Umbria and having closed 2020 and 2021 in budget balance: if there is a deficit, it is therefore the exclusive result of the mismanagement of this Giunta which has been in office for three years.
And let’s take a look at these numbers briefly, also considering that two days ago the Conference of Regions reached agreement on the allocation of resources of the National Health Fund (FSN) for 2022.
In this three-year period, the NSF went from 113 billion in 2019 to 126 billion in 2022 and the Umbria Region went from 1.680 billion in 2019 to 1.899 billion (of which 1.779 indistinct) in 2022.
In short, Umbria has received around 220 million more funding over three years from the FSN (excluding funds from the PNRR and other specific funding) to also deal with the emergency.
Citizens would therefore have the right to know how the significant resources received (almost 2 billion) were spent, before having their services cut to plug the budget holes.
But nothing, there is no transparency on the allocation of resources and it is not even known what savings the various measures taken should lead to. Only blind cuts.
Personnel, structures and services are being compressed. Pharmaceutical spending is reduced with linear cuts and the councilor’s office even decides bureaucratically how many days a patient should be hospitalised. All with attached threats to doctors exposed to the Court of Auditors and criminal and civil consequences.
In short, they are compromising the regional health system, denying citizens care, without even being able to make ends meet. And even more difficult times lie ahead, given that the government has only allocated money for bills and vaccines for health care in 2023 and given that the structural underfunding of Italian health care persists compared to other European countries.
For this and much more we ask the Region for responsibility and transparency on the accounts and on the future of Umbrian health care and for a quick course correction. In the meantime, if the money is lacking, President Tesei asks the government (friend) to increase resources in healthcare for 2023, and above all to overcome ideological prejudices and take the 37 billion of the healthcare ESM that Europe would lend us at an almost zero rate .
For Umbria, it would be about 600 million more investments in health care: do we need them or not?
The provincial coordinators of Italia Viva
05 December 2022
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