The doctors of the territorial emergency and the incompatibility with the training course in general medicine

by Maurizio Borgese

28 JUNE – Dear Director,
after a year, with regret, I am again writing about a problem that we thought was solved. Following the approval of the Calabria Decree, all doctors of the territorial health emergency 118, of continuity of assistance and of penitentiary medicine who are eligible to access the training course in general medicine without economic remuneration on an extra scholarship, will be forced to resign from service they currently work in.

It is a paradoxical situation to say the least! These are doctors with decades of experience, who cannot access the course due to the rule contained in article 11 of the Ministerial Decree of 7 March 2006, which establishes the incompatibility between the specific training course and any conventional activity.
Numerous colleagues, therefore, although not receiving any remuneration from the scholarship, will have to resign by the date of the start of the Mmg course, which is presumed to be, by rumors, next July 28th. This would lead to the collapse of numerous essential services for the citizen, who would suddenly be deprived of the work of dozens of doctors.

Last year, after an assiduous commitment by the SMI, it was possible in extremis to get the Ministry to approve a note that gave the colleagues of the 2019-2022 GP course the opportunity to participate in the course. This note, however, only concerned that three-year course.

We are working tirelessly to ensure that this note is extended to this year and future ones.

In our opinion, training / work, in these years of lack of medical personnel, is the right way to go.
We would like to reiterate that without a timely intervention by the Ministry, many regions will unquestionably find themselves in difficulty, due to the layoffs of doctors that would weigh on already existing staff shortages.
In this year, the 118 territorial health emergency service gave its best even if there was a shortage of personnel, something that has been ascertained in all regions.

Many regions beyond the Piedmont region, the region where I work, in recent months have inevitably had to demedicalize ambulances.
A few ago we had to intervene, also, in the Molise Region. We have requested to suspend any application aimed at acquiring (before the start of the general medicine course) statements from SET 118 doctors regarding the renunciation of conventional positions that they already hold. It should be remembered that this question has already been brought to the health commission of the State Regions Conference and with respect to which, it should be remembered, the Ministry of Health had already allowed, with the DM 28/9/2020, to doctors who enrolled in the FSMG course three-year period 2019/2022 to maintain the conventional offices.

The SMI will always fight for the right to study and work of medical colleagues and, obviously, for the protection of citizens’ health rights.

Maurizio Borgese
National Head of the Italian Doctors Union (SMI) Emergency Sector 118

June 28, 2021
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