Valentina Fassio
If already today there are 100,000 Piedmontese without a family doctor, in 2030 there will be almost a million. A deficiency that does not exclude the Asti area: 18 deficiencies and only 9 covered places. It is estimated that in 4-5 years, it will be possible to reach 50 terminations, without replacement.
“Sorry to say, but we had foreseen it”: speaking is Rosario Parisi, provincial secretary of the Italian Federation of general practitioners.
Parisi explains: «With regard to hospital specialties, the greatest difficulties concern the emergency room, in particular those of the more peripheral hospitals, and resuscitation. But the situation affects family doctors in particular ”.
In Asti and its province, those in business are just under 150: «And with a rather high average age – continues Parisi – this means that there are other retirements on the horizon. In order for our category to truly be the outpost for the medicine of the future, we need to invest and work in this direction. If only 9 of the 18 shortcomings were covered it must also be said that of the last 7 colleagues specializing in general medicine, only three have followed this path. The other four have chosen specializations for the hospital: young people prefer them ». The consequence is that more and more citizens will find themselves without a referring doctor: “If the maximum is 1,500 patients, it is evident that an already full agenda cannot add others: a situation that will burden the medical guard or first aid».
Parisi recalls that the Fimmg had already foreseen an under-staffed basic medicine: «We have been saying this for ten years: what is happening has proved us right, unfortunately. I repeat: if you don’t invest to change direction, the picture is bound to get worse “. The president of the Order of Doctors Claudio Lucia is of the same opinion, retired general practitioner, now medical director of the RSA Clinica San Giuseppe: «We have been raising the alarm for years. Our social security institution has known the situation for some time. Long-term political choices need to be made if basic medicine is to be the first link in local healthcare ”.
Between graduation and specialization, 10 years are needed for training: «Ours is an unappealing profession – he underlines Parisi – And the family doctor is not synonymous with high remuneration and little work, the health emergency has proved it ». If the social weight has changed (“in the past the family doctor was an authority, today it is not so”), it is also very different to carry out the profession in the city, large or small, and in the province, when it is necessary to manage patients from multiple countries. He adds: “Covid has weighed on a category already in trouble”. Regarding earnings, he explains: «The salary is calculated on different items, for example a quota on the clients: one hundred euros per patient in charge. Additional fees for example on over 75, on home visits (18 euros gross with fully documented access) and on team activities in the local area. It is true that you can reach 3 thousand euros, but you must then take into account the management costsand of the activity: studio rental; a possible substitute is also at his expense; utilities; Personal income tax; instrumentation”. Concludes: “The specialty in general medicine is not encouraged, and scholarships are half of the others”. —