Why Lombardy has the longest healthcare waiting lists: the expert’s explanation

According to the report “Health cannot wait” prepared by Federconsumatori and the Isscon Foundation, with the contribution of the Welfare and Rights Area of ​​the CGIL, the Lombardy is the region that (on average) takes the record for the longest healthcare waiting lists. It is the one in which, for example, one must wait until 753 days for a cardiac Doppler ultrasound.

Doctor Vittorio Agnolettoteacher and activist of the Democratic Medicine movement interviewed by Fanpage.ittried to explain the reasons for this situation and highlighted how the economic factor and the search for profit at any cost, they are destroying the regional health service: “We are traveling shot towards the US modelthat is, that of efficient and effective healthcare for those who can pay, while healthcare where it is increasingly difficult to get treatment for the majority of the population”.

The reasons that make Lombard waiting lists so long

“Lombardy is first in terms of length of waiting lists in some situations and not in others, there is no general ranking“, begins Dr. Agnoletto. The fact is that there is a lot from Pirellone difficulties in managing public health. According to the expert, the main reason is that Lombardy is the region where the private sector. “There is no other region that has such a strong private presence, both those with agreements and those without agreements“.

The Lombard healthcare system is made up of public facilities And private affiliated facilities, that is, who work for the public “in exchange” for a refund. The waiting lists depend on places available in both structures, but also by another thing: the economic profit. “Often gThe interventions and visits to be made are selected based on the reimbursement that the affiliated private facility receives. It is more convenient to have a heart transplant than prostate surgery. For this reason, interventions relating to ordinary administrative events clash with very long waiting lists“.

“The criteria for establishing the priority of visits What should be done is the booking time and the urgency of the case, not the economic profit“. But it doesn’t end here. Agnoletto explains further: “Lombardy has a number very high migratory flows, that is, people who come here to be treated. These people often have the priority because, once again, the mobility process is marked for high-level interventions which means higher reimbursements“.

Another reason why the waiting lists in Lombardy are very long is that they exist few doctors and nurses who work in the public sector. “At a national level the problem is that salaries are not raised. At a regional level there is also a problem connected to working methods. The Lombardy Region has approved a resolution in which it establishes the times to be dedicated to the different types of visits and interventions, but the doctor is not a machine“. In fact, doctors are unable to follow these timelines because they cannot afford to underestimate even a single case, “There is a risk of making a mistake here“, it’s about the lives of others.

What to do to try to improve the situation in Lombardy

To try to improve the situation, according to Agnoletto, three things should be done: increase doctors’ salaries, change work methods (especially in Lombardy) e suspend intra moenia, or private activity within a public structure (or exercise of a freelance profession). “If salaries were increased it should be abolished in my opinion, but for now it could be suspended for a period“.

Dr. Agnoletto maintains that in public health service facilities where waiting lists exceed the limits established by law, intra moenia should be temporarily suspended until the waiting limits established by law are restored”because we must be able to use all the time and all the public facilities to dispose of the waiting lists“.

Another fundamental element is that of check. In first of all you have to check them agreements with private individuals: “Does Lombardy go to see if the private structures really make available the spaces for which they have the agreement? No, just as it does not verify with what criteria one visit is made before another. And they should also control the exercise of the freelance profession which is often abused“.

Finally, the doctor concludes by making a disturbing prediction: “We are moving towards the US model: an efficient and effective medicine for those can paywhile a medicine where it is increasingly difficult to cure the large mass of the population“. The length of the waiting lists confirms this.