Fiorenza Sarzanini (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
Mwaiting times for an x-ray, blocked lists for a specialist visit. And the drama of those waiting for a report often turns into tragedy. Why There are thousands of citizens who risk dying without having the diagnosis that would allow them to be treated.
For over a year the NAS carabinieri have been busy tracking down those who – thanks to recommendations or even “bribes” – manage to skip the queue. But these are still isolated cases. The real problem concerns the shortage of doctors, technicians and equipment.
It concerns healthcare which – especially after Covid – is now reduced to the limit. The proof is in the results ofinvestigation carried out by Active Citizenship which collected data from four regions – Puglia, Liguria, Emilia Romagna and Lazio – because, as the secretary Anna Lisa Mandorino explained, «the situation is totally out of control and has negative repercussions on the quality of life and the economic sustainability of the National Health Service, which must then intervene on more serious pathologies. AND it undermines the system of periodic checks for chronically ill patients, who are increasingly left to their own devices».
In Puglia «there are negative peaks even equal to zero regarding the percentage of compliance with deadlines both for a pneumological visit and for an oncological visit in the Lecce Local Health Authority. In Bari the times for a gynecological examination are respected only in 9.38 percent of cases and in 14.39 percent for a complete ultrasound of the abdomen”.
Things aren’t better in Liguria. «In Imperia for a cardiological visit the waiting times are at least 159 days; in La Spezia for a mammogram it takes up to 253 days; in Genoa for a complete abdominal ultrasound the appointment cannot be obtained before 270 days”. In Emilia-Romagna things are certainly better, albeit with serious exceptions.
In Reggio Emilia «for a pneumological examination the deadlines are respected only in 39 percent of cases» while in Bologna «for the cardiological examination only in 57 percent. Negative peak also for endocrinological visits which can only be done in the right time in 13 percent of cases.”
In Lazio there are very different realities even in the same cities. «In Rome, for a complete abdominal ultrasound we go from an ASL that manages to follow the correct procedure only in 18.2 percent of cases, to one that respects it in 59.6 percent of requests. In Viterbo for a cardiological visit there are waiting times respected in 47.2 percent of cases”.
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