The healthcare it has become the last ground which, in favor of television cameras, has united the CGIL and the Italian left. The union, with a wink from the Democratic Party and the 5 Star Movement, hastened to take to the streets to defend and relaunch the National Health Service. Was there really a need to make yet another act of opposition to the Meloni government? Riccardo Starace – health manager for Confapi Lazio and entrepreneur in the private health sector – explained to ilGiornale.it because the executive is currently going in the right direction, effectively debunking the usual theories supported by Elly Schlein.
How is the Meloni government moving in the field of public health?
“I believe that the choice of a technician as Minister of Health is a sign of President Meloni’s great attention to the world of health. With respect to structural health policies, we cannot fail to start from the Pnrr which allocates 15.63 billion euros to Mission 6 Health and is divided into two components dedicated respectively to ‘Proximity networks, structures and telemedicine for territorial health care’ (7 billion euro) and to ‘Innovation, research and digitization of the national health service’ (8.63 billion euro). The resources are there, the planning too. Now to make an initial assessment we will only have to wait for the planned projects to start”.
Yet the CGIL went to the streets to defend health and relaunch the National Health Service. What is your assessment of Minister Schillaci?
“Minister Schillaci is a doctor and rector of one of the most important university polyclinics in Italy (Tor Vergata) and certainly knows the critical points of the NHS well. In healthcare it is necessary to valorise resources of absolute excellence so that together with important structural reforms they can impose a change of pace. Up to now the work of the minister is going in this direction”.
You are an entrepreneur in the private healthcare sector. How important is it to involve what is in fact the second pillar of the NHS?
“Today, Italian health care is already a de facto system that rests on two pillars: the public one and the private one. The latter is in turn divided into ‘accredited private’ (which I remind the citizen costs exactly as much as the public one) and ‘private-private’. With a view to an increasingly necessary proximity healthcare, a greater involvement of the accredited private sector would do nothing but assist the public system, which could thus give an increasingly effective response to the needs of citizens”.
Elly Schlein said that the government intends to encourage privatization and this would be a way to hit the citizens. Do you agree with the words of the secretary of the Democratic Party?
“The secretary of the Democratic Party does his job, which is to oppose and – although I have the utmost respect for Mr Schlein – I obviously do not agree on the fact that private healthcare can be in conflict with public healthcare. Indeed I believe that private healthcare is today a great ally of public healthcare and I am convinced that this virtuous relationship is destined to grow and improve for the good of citizens”.
One of the accusations made by the opposition to the government is that of an alleged cut in healthcare funds. But did those same parties in the past, when they were at the helm of our country, really make all the necessary efforts that they are now asking for?
“The SSN has existed in Italy since 1978, when under the Andreotti government – on the proposal of the Minister of Health Tina Anselmi – law 833 was approved. ‘ related to the various categories of workers and established the NHS (based on ‘universality, equality and fairness’). On the basis of these principles, health services were extended to the entire population. Currently, the NHS services are provided by the Local Health Authorities ( ASL), by hospitals, but also by accredited private structures.On the basis of the Reform of Title V of the Constitution, the protection of health has become a ‘concurrent competence’ between the State and the Regions: the State – through the National Health Plan – establishes the LEA , while the Regions and Autonomous Provinces, in full autonomy, plan and manage health care in their territories, while the Accredited Public and Private Health Authorities provide services to citizens. Starting from this analysis, it is easier to understand the difficulty of answering this question. To date, the critical issues of the health system remain an issue that all governments have addressed but that no one has yet definitively resolved”.
What has the Coronavirus pandemic taught us?
“First of all, we understood how important it is to have a healthcare system capable of treating people at home. Personally, I have seen how important it is to take care of people, not only by treating them but by creating a care network that, starting from the clinical aspect, penetrates the social and family aspects And all this is possible today also thanks to the technological innovations that we have just begun to get to know during the pandemic. And then, if it is true that Covid has laid bare all the critical issues of the NHS, it has also exalted its excellence: doctors, nurses and healthcare workers. The pandemic has stressed our healthcare system like never before, which however has held up better than all the others in the world. And this demonstrates how important, indeed fundamental, and necessary it is, to continue investing in training as well as in infrastructure “.
Surely investments and hiring are needed to ensure efficient services in the area. What role can the Pnrr play in this direction?
“We have already talked about the figures of the Pnrr but the Plan also envisages investments in the training of healthcare personnel in basic and specialist medicine and in the strengthening of managerial and digital skills. Furthermore, an extraordinary training plan on hospital infections will be implemented. In In essence, the Pnrr can be an exceptional boost for health care. I am an entrepreneur and as such in my companies I judge above all the results. And we will have to do the same to evaluate the work of this government on the health issue”.