“We need to completely reorganize Italian healthcare” and the Pnrr “destines 15-20 billion to the sector but I think more could have been allocated to health“. This was stated by the Minister of Health, Orazio Tell usinterviewed by Bruno Vespa at the forum ‘Italy to come’ at Masseria Li Reni.
“The shadows left by Covid are linked above all to local medicine, which Covid has highlighted, but the Pnrr funds are largely intended for local medicine. I believe – said Schillaci – that we need to reorganize at 360 degrees Italian healthcare”. This means, he clarified, that “hospitals and the local medicine network must be connected, emergency rooms must be decongested, the local network and general practitioners must be valued, while pharmacies are also valued”. All this must be done “with the funds of the Pnrr, because the future of health depends on the use of all funds of the Pnrr. This is the challenge. Fifteen-twenty 5-20 billion for health care are a lot in the Pnrr but – concluded the minister – for health there could have been even more”.
“The privacy guarantor yesterday approved the privacy-related part relating to the electronic health record: it is an important result and a first step in the right direction”, underlined the minister, adding that “digitization is the starting point for reducing inequalities. I believe that with digitization, to which many funds from the PNRR have been dedicated, healthcare will finally reach everywhere, cutting the distances between north and south”.
With respect to the shortage of family doctors and the lack of attractiveness of the sector, Schillaci highlighted that “the family doctor needs to be retrained, even with a different training, moving towards a family medicine that is equivalent to a school of specialization, because this would make the sector is more attractive. I believe we will be able to find an effective collaboration agreement. Due to the shortages in the area, even today those who are richer live longer and this – he said – is unacceptable. We will find agreements that will make the figure of the doctor re-appreciate family’s”.
“The regions go at different speeds on all health care, and I believe that we need to make sure that the regions that have the most difficulty can be helped, in this there is all the availability of the ministry. The point is that the ministry distributes the funds but then it is the regions that have the spending in hand: I therefore claim for the ministry a role of control and help to those who have the most difficulty, this to reduce inequalities”, the minister also stated. Regarding the awaited reform of the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa), Schillaci underlined that “we are interested in innovation being within everyone’s reach, because we cannot afford not to offer innovations to all citizens”. The AIFA reform, he concluded, “is a process that we hope to conclude by the summer or immediately after, in order to have a leaner and less bureaucratic AIFA and we are following a path together with the competent ministries”.