It was the dramatic shortage of doctors, especially in emergency rooms but also in hospital wards and in the area, at the center of the meeting that was held this afternoon between the presidents of the Apulian medical orders, the councilor for health Rocco Palese and the director of the Health Department Vito Montanaro. The orientation shared by those present is to identify solutions that can cope with the immediate emergency, but which are part of a structural rethinking of assistance. In addition, the orders highlighted how it is necessary to guarantee the quality of health care and to prevent emergency legislation from negatively affecting the right to health and the rights of workers.
To address the current critical issues, the commissioner Palese expressed the great willingness of the Region to involve the representatives of the medical profession and proposed to set up working groups to put forward hypotheses that could quickly translate into administrative measures.
In the immediate future, the shortage of doctors could be bridged with the involvement of retired doctors, as well as trainees. The latter, in the hypothesis put forward by the councilor, could be contracted in the penultimate year and for 36 months, so that there is a clear direction towards a stable insertion within the regional health system.
To buffer the situation in the emergency rooms and in 118, the hypothesis put forward is the involvement of general medicine and continuity of care, in the management of white and green codes. This could especially alleviate the pressure on emergency rooms, which in the last 45 days in Puglia have seen up to 3200 daily accesses and have never dropped below 2600.
“The important thing – said Filippo Anelli – is that these temporary solutions are part of a broader project to strengthen local medicine, as well as careful and long-term planning”.
On the sidelines of the meeting, meeting the executive of the National Federation of Medical Orders, President Filippo Anelli recalled the death of Paola Labriola and the duty to guarantee doctors safety and dignified working conditions, on the occasion of the anniversary of the tragic disappearance of the doctor from Bari.