LETTER In Italy we get sick when we go to the family doctor

Dear Beppe, the pandemic has taught us many things, highlighting our fragility as humans, first of all, but also many naiveties and approximations in the management of public health. A relative of mine died last January of a Covid infection caused by the nurse who takes blood tests at home to regulate a medicine that is very popular among the elderly (Coumadin). There weren’t any quick swabs yet and we got over it. But it is not always a matter of fate. I am reminded of the long waits in the general practitioners’ rooms, perhaps for a trivial prescription or for a simple routine visit. Instinctively, I have always shown reluctance to enter these places, fearing the risk of contagion, even if it were only a seasonal flu. But after all, what harm is there in catching a cold and a little fever, when the doctor is there on purpose to prescribe medicines and rest days? Whether it is a system to make pharmacies work, in spite of employers and INPS who pay sickness benefits? I would be curious to understand from Italians around the world how this flow of patients in waiting rooms is managed in other countries. With us, GP’s offices are also located in condominium spaces designed for other uses, with entrances, stairs and elevators used indiscriminately by residents and patients suffering from flu, or even worse from Covid, given that vaccinations mitigate its effects, making it difficult to recognize. Even worse, GPs are asked to join: in the same condominium office as my doctor there are now 4, with dozens of patients coming and going, often sick and contagious. But how is it possible that the legislation does not prescribe minimum prevention measures, such as autonomous entrances and a specific dynamic in waiting rooms? We talk a lot about Green-pass and then we get sick going to the family doctor!

Anna Lorenzi Straller, [email protected]