‘In Tuscany there will be 4,000 doctors missing in the next few years’
“In Tuscany today there is a lack of at least 800 specialist doctors and 250 among general practitioners and paediatricians of free choice. The worst is yet to come: about 4,000 will retire in the next few years. We must be clear: this way the system does not hold up ”.
One say it is the president of the Medici Order of Florence Pietro Dattolo, which in recent days has delivered to the Region one report on the lack of doctors in Tuscany and the request to hire white coats. In the Tuscan ASL they are active 9,130 white coats, of which 220 hired on a fixed-term basis (Istat 2018 data). There are 2,650 general practitioners, those of continuity of assistance (the former medical guard) are enough, 340 pediatricians.
According to a recent ANAAO study and a projection of the National Federation of Orders of Surgeons and Dentists based on Istat data and the Ministry of Health, between now and 2030 about 47% of doctors currently active in Italy will retire: as regards Tuscany, this is about 400 pensions a year, for a total of about 4,000 doctors.
“Already now – explains Dattolo – the situation is such that some Tuscan family doctors follow 1,800 patients each. It is a bad decision in my opinion, a distortion, which not only does not solve the situation but aggravates it, adding an incredible overhead to doctors, and can put the quality of the primary care system at risk. It has been discussed for years but without finding solutions. Now the consequences are there for all to see and unfortunately we have not yet hit rock bottom. We need to act quickly “.
Hence the requests of the Medical Order. “In Tuscany – says Dattolo – 800 hospital specialists and at least 250 general practitioners and pediatricians must be hired immediately. We appreciate the efforts made by the Tuscany Region and we understand that the first cap is represented by insufficient national funding, but it is necessary to hire, hire and still hire new doctors ”.