Vieste falls from the balcony and help arrives 45 minutes later. Crisis of 118, shortages in the staff: few doctors and underpaid. But the problem affects all of Italy
A flight of several meters on Monday cost a fracture of a couple of lumbar vertebrae to one man from Vieste, fell from the balcony. However, when 118 was contacted for the rescue, the ambulance managed to arrive only 45 minutes later. The man got away with it, but the episode turned the spotlight on evident crisis of the 118 and on the state of emergency-urgency services.
The delay of 45 minutes reveals the lid on the lack of staff and the state of intolerance as well as wear and tear of medical teams, often exploited and underpaid: “Conditions of malaise that nobody talks about and that nobody knows about”. In the specific case of the Vieste accident, on Monday the ambulance was in San Giovanni, and had to leave from Peschici, with a team returning from a 24-hour shift. “In the Gargano there are no doctors or hospitals” they continue, “the ASL for years has not even bothered to train paramedics”, “the category wanted to protest but the emergency is an essential service”. “Doctors of 50-60 years still with fixed-term contracts”, and “with the holidays it will be more evident: uncovered shifts of 118 and medical guard will remain, all to the detriment of the citizens” And the situation is tragic for the 118. A doctor manages to earn 10-12 euros per hour, with fixed-term contracts “.
This is a discomfort that is repeated periodically, but which with the problems of the area also implies serious repercussions. “In the worst cases in the ambulance the doctor is missing – due to a shortage of staff – and the nurses can never administer – as you know – drugs to the patient. There are fewer and fewer doctors, at this rate it will end up that the 118 will disappear “, tell local health workers in Rete Gargano. But if the shortage of staff is hopeless for the ASL of Foggia, the problem itself extends to all of Italy and implies the trite and retreat (so far insoluble) dribbling of responsibility between the Regions and the Ministry of Health. And we continue to wonder if the keystone is the Regions or the Minister Speranza.
As explained by some sources ad Affaritaliani.it ambulances, depending on the personnel on board, are differentiated by convention names. “There is the ‘India’ ambulance which is the one without a doctor, only with driver, nurse and rescuer. Then the ‘Mike’, with driver, doctor, nurse and rescuer. Finally, ‘Victor’ with only driver and rescuer”.
And if Covid has never stopped in Italy, the other diseases in the country move with the same brisk pace. So the alert in the emergency room for non-Covid patients is getting stronger. “Nothing to do with the first waves – explained Fabio De Iaco, director of the emergency room at the Martini hospital in Turin al Fatto – but we are beginning to have difficulties because the beds dedicated to Covid, in the specialist departments, are starting to run out. In recent days in Rome the ambulances queued in front of the emergency room have been seen again. It happens that non-Covid infectious patients are treated only in some emergency hospitals and the times are getting longer, from three days it can even reach seven “.
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