Schillaci: “The Pnrr? More money was needed for health care. Today patients find answers only in the emergency room”

MANDURIA (TARANTO). «It is true that 15 billion allocated to Health is a lot, but perhaps more could have been allocated. After all, the Pnrr was born precisely to overcome all the problems that Covid has shown to exist in the field of health. Health is a primary good.” Thus the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, who from Bruno Vespa’s estate in Manduria, explains: «Yesterday afternoon the Privacy Guarantor finally approved the electronic health file. It wasn’t simple. The previous government had not succeeded.

According to the minister, “a large part of the Pnrr funds are intended for local medicine. I believe that health needs to be reorganized at 360°. The system is basically organized on two floors: family doctors and hospitals. There is no real network of proximity between family doctors and hospitals throughout the country. The challenge is to build it with Pnrr funds. Today all patients go to the emergency room because in fact it is the only place today where they find an answer to their right care needs. In recent months, more than once I have repeated this problem, even taking some criticism. I believe that they often appear in numbers exceeding the need; however it is clear that having no other safe places to go, patients turn to the emergency room. I believe that there is a need to build a proximity network, re-evaluate the figure of the general practitioner, and decongest the emergency rooms ».

On family doctors he adds: «There is good will. I believe this is another important step in moving towards the modernization of the national health system. On the subject of inequalities, I recall that Italy is a nation in which the pre-pandemic Istat data, in 2018, clearly indicated that the life expectancy of an Italian citizen essentially depends on two factors: where he was born and resides, and which both the degree. Which obviously translates into the ability to produce an income. So let’s say that in some areas of Italy, if you are poor you die sooner. And I think this is unacceptable today for a modern state”.