“The CGIL has linked the theme of defense and relaunch of the National Health Serviceof the right to health and protection for non-self-sufficient people to that of the so-called differentiated autonomy and of the distortion of the parliamentary Republic”. To write it, in a joint note, Married Angelgeneral secretary of CGIL Calabria, Alessandra Baldarigeneral secretary of Fp Cgil Calabria, Carmelo Gullìgeneral secretary Spi Cgil Calabria e Francesco MasottiFp Cgil Doctors Calabria.
Recalling the long process of mobilization implemented by CGIL and UIL in recent months, the note recalls the “perfect storm” that was unleashed on the National Health Service and the “signs” of its gradual but unstoppable decline. From the persistent defunding (37 billion euros in cuts in the last 10 years), to the inequalities and divisions created by 20 different regional health systems, up to the growing aging of the population and the progressive reduction of staff due to the early departure of dozens of thousands of doctors and healthcare workers, with the difficulty, therefore, of being able to keep hospital departments open or ensure basic assistance to citizens.
The managers of the Calabrian CGIL cite data from the National Health Observatory, according to which in the next ten years the National Health Service will find itself with approximately 25% less staff. A shortage that will be impossible to remedy by “importing” foreign doctors or calling retired doctors back into service.
“In a country where the average lifespan is increasing and chronic diseases are increasing – we read in the note – the problem becomes assistance and personal care. Without adequate investments and resources, the public and universal National Health Service will not be able to survive. What is needed instead, as we have long supported, is an extraordinary plan for the reorganization of services, hiring and investments in public health with a stable increase in the financing of the National Health Service which brings it back into line with the average of other European countries and the elimination of the constraints of the spending ceiling for the personnel of the Regional Health Services bodies”.
The serious situation in Calabria
In Calabria, the CGIL reports, the situation is even more serious. “Already ten years after the regionalization of its healthcare, the region has fallen into a very heavy recovery plan, with negative repercussions in terms of hiring freezes and failure to respond to citizens’ health needs”.
“To date – we recall – we are implementing the fifth Operational Program without any concrete results: essential levels of assistance below the threshold of sufficiency and a healthcare migration that puts citizens in serious difficulty and empties regional coffers. A situation which, in the last four and a half years of leadership of the Region by the Calabrian centre-right, has worsened. This is attested by citizens who ask for assistance and treatment and it is certified by the Lea monitoring system by Agenas and by independent bodies such as the Gimbe Foundation”.
“And, in the meantime, Calabria continues not to spend to guarantee health care for its citizens, to such an extent that the technicians of the Ministries of Health and of Economy and Finance write in the last minutes of January 22nd that ‘the surplus which is observed after the coverage in the year 2022 is connected to the delay in the interventions, as also highlighted by the numerous provisions of the resources of the indistinct and restricted regional health fund, which should have been implemented for the strengthening of the LEAs, hoped for by the numerous initiatives national legislative measures in support of the Calabria Region which have taken place over the years and from the registration of State contributions in support of the Calabria Region’s recovery plan which appear not to be used’.
Of the same opinion is the latest annual report of the Court of Auditors, cited in the press release, which speaks of “State contributions in support of the Calabria Region’s recovery plan which appear largely unused” and of “delay in interventions that should have been implemented in place for the provision of healthcare through the strengthening of LEAs. The surplus as of 31 December 2022 – the Court of Auditors comments – does not provide a truthful and correct snapshot of the situation of the Calabrian healthcare system”.
“We strongly relaunch – writes the CGIL Calabria – the commitment undertaken by the Presidency of the Regional Council, to date disregarded, to activate continuous discussion tables at the regional level first and of the Provincial Health Authorities subsequently in which to operate territorial socio-health bargaining , as an aspect of fundamental importance in the complex work of reorganization of the Regional Health Service”.
“If the commitment undertaken is not respected, we will mobilize workers and citizens to defend and protect the right to treatment and be assisted in the territory in which they live to stop the processes of healthcare emigration, privatization and to relaunch a public Regional Health Service and a system socio-health system that guarantees all communities, with particular attention to those in internal areas and contributes to avoiding depopulation”.
“Rights with respect to which the bill for the implementation of the differentiated autonomy of the regions, the so-called Calderoli bill, not only would not resolve the serious problems of our region, but would accentuate the inequalities and the gap compared to other Italian regions” .
Tags: open table mobilization
