Guido Bertolaso’s mission to Argentina and Paraguay in search of doctors and nurses for the Lombardy facilities went well. In a press conference, the Lombardy Health Councilor announced the potential availability of over 3,000 nurses and more than 500 doctors interested in reaching Italy. Furthermore, 50 emails arrived in the Region from professionals who, on personal initiative, expressed interest in working in Lombardy. And Italian doctors and nurses? A new tender is being planned for them. If not all available positions are filled, calls for tenders will be launched for personnel from universities in the countries with which the Region begins collaboration with fixed-term notices. Italian training courses and professional refresher courses will be set up for South American staff and the qualification held will be recognized at a regional level as required by the regulations revised a year ago, in times of pandemic, in place of the controls of the Ministry of Health. The Region is also willing to help healthcare personnel who will cross the Atlantic with economic incentives and concessions in transport and housing.
For Stefania Pace, Regional Coordinator of the Orders of Nursing Professions in Lombardy, the solution chosen is not the right one. «The Region responds to the flight abroad of its professionals by trying to recruit new ones in other countries. I would invite Councilor Bertolaso to convene orders and representatives of the nursing world for a discussion, where we could give some useful suggestions and open up some reflections.” Pace, who is president of OPI Brescia, is sorry that in the whole story of Bertolaso’s “journey” as told by the media there are “unsaid” things. «First of all, no one highlights the quality of care that Italian healthcare professionals are called upon to provide. With all due respect to our foreign colleagues, whose enthusiasm and ability to get involved is not discussed, we do not know the level of their skills. For example, knowledge of the language is essential for communicating with the patient. Secondly – recalls Pace – the gaps to be covered are both in the hospital and in community care. Ministerial Decree 77 also represents a challenge for us Italian nurses, it requires us to know the functions of the professionals with whom we interact in community homes, and the structure of national and regional health and social services. Finally, the issue of shortcomings must be explained well, without forgetting the problems we have raised for years and at the origin of the shortcomings.”
«Our university courses – Pace details – are of a high level, selective, and we are sought after, so much so that around 6 thousand Lombard nurses trained in Italy practice abroad (4 thousand in Switzerland alone). On the other hand, in Italy the category receives 23% less than the average of its colleagues in other EU countries. What strategies do we have to bring back emigrant colleagues, who represent two thirds of the entire nursing shortage in Lombardy? I read that the Region is already thinking about incentives for nurses who will come from South America: but why isn’t there talk of valorising local healthcare professionals?” The coordination of Lombard nurses has already put forward proposals. «To bring colleagues back from abroad, Legislative Decree 34 of 2019 could be applied, which reduces the taxable income of professionals returning to Italy. At a regional level, an allowance could then be recognized, or financial contributions for training, or aid for families (I remember 80% of our profession is made up of women). Only our colleagues abroad today, returning in the face of targeted incentives, could bring about decisive turning points in our reforms. And in the wake of Lombardy we could begin to provide a solution for the rest of the country.” The trade unions calculate that, compared to European parameters, a total of 175 thousand nurses are missing in Italy.
