Obtain the healthcare services due within the deadlines established by law.
The SOS Health help desk was created with this aim in mind, an initiative of the La Scaletta Club of Matera and of the“Fatti non steste” Association of Montescaglioso.
It was presented this morning during a press conference which took place in Matera at the Circolo La Scaletta headquarters and was attended by the presidents of the Circolo La Scaletta, Franco Di Pedeof the Fatti non steste Association, Angelo Andriulliwho is also a member of the Board of Directors of La Scaletta, and Angela Maria Bitonti national president of Adu, Association for the protection of human rights.
The Help Desk is a tool to ensure the implementation of the Law 124 of 29 April 1998 which provides for the possibility of asking the Local Health Authority to carry out, under intramoenia regime, with payment by the regional healthcare system, medical visits that public healthcare facilities are not able to provide within the expected timescales.
The provision entrusts the treating doctor with the decision to identify the degree of urgency with which the requested services must be provided: we move from a level U of urgency (in which the services must be provided within 3 days); to a grade B (short) in which the exam must be carried out within 10 days of the request; to a grade D (deferrable), which designates a service to be performed within 30-60 days; and a final grade P (programmable), in which the waiting times for the investigation are extended to 120 days.
In the event that public structures are not able to respect the expected deadlines, citizens can request compliance by sending a written request to the general director of the ASL by certified email or registered letter requesting the provision of health services under the intramoenia regime. with expenses exceeding the copay paid by the regional health service.
The Circolo Culturale La Scaletta and the Fatti non foste Association, through the SOS Salute Forum Help Desk, guarantee information and operational support to citizens who wish to initiate dialogue with the ASL.
The desk will be active, for the moment in the cities of Matera and Montescaglioso. There have been requests to join from other associations operating in the municipalities of Miglionico, Pomarico, Policoro and Ferrandina. Only volunteers who make themselves available to lend a hand to citizens without requesting any contribution will operate in the structures.
To activate the Forum services, simply call, or send a text message or whatsapp, to the numbers: 351/057663 for Matera and 379/2849799 for Montescaglioso.
The volunteers will make an appointment for which they will simply have to show up with the medical prescription and, if provided by the Cup, the expected date of the visit or diagnostic test to be carried out. The desk will verify any reported non-compliance and arrange for the requests to be sent to the general management and to that of the public relations office of the regional health authorities.
“The initiative – explained the president of La Scaletta, Franco Di Pede – is part of the activities promoted by the Club on the topic of Healthcare and has the aim of offering a service to citizens who do not know the possibilities that the law guarantees them. It is necessary to intervene to mitigate the effects of the very long waiting lists for exams and visits which in Basilicata, as in other regions, have become an emergency”.
“Unfortunately, it is a common experience – underlines the President of the Fatti non steste association and member of the La Scaletta board of directors, Angelo Andriulli – how the waiting lists extend beyond the time frame established by current legislation with serious damage to the state of health of citizens. Due to lack of knowledge of the legislative provisions in force, citizens who have an exam scheduled, regardless of the degree of urgency, in biblical times, to face and trust that their health problems will be resolved, are left at the mercy of themselves, being forced to “make do”: you look for a friendly professional, or you turn to affiliated private structures, or you take the plunge and pay for the requested services in a private structure. With the opening of this desk, we wanted to offer an opportunity to see a fundamental right protected.”
“The organization of health services – highlighted the lawyer Angela Maria Bitonti, national president of the Human Rights Association – cannot prejudice the implementation of a fundamental right enshrined in our Constitution. A concept recognized by the Court of Matera in a sentence that constitutes a precedent in Italy, in the context of a case that I promoted to protect a patient who, unable to book a healthcare service through the established channels, was forced to turn to the ‘Judicial authority. This is why we look favorably on the opening of the SOS Salute Forum branches promoted by the Circolo La Scaletta and the Fatti non foste Association”.
