Tumors, cardiovascular diseases and more: millions of Italians in danger due to the lack of beds in intensive care. Postponements risk jeopardizing the successes achieved in recent years with early diagnoses and jeopardizing healings
a tsunami as feared as widely foretold is the one that is gradually hitting Italian hospitals. Once again the operating theaters are closing because the intensive care beds are occupied by Covid patients: only urgent interventions are carried out, all the others (the so-called elective ones, the planned ones) slip. Once again at a later date. And, once again, patient associations and specialists from various disciplines are sounding the alarm: the pandemic is paralyzing ordinary activities in many hospitals, endangering the lives of millions of Italian patients. People who are waiting to be operated on for cancer, cardiovascular or digestive diseases, orthopedic or vision disorders, just to give examples, will continue to wait, if they are not strictly urgent cases. This also serves to vaccinate against Covid-19 – underlines Francesco Cognetti, president of the Federation of oncologists, cardiologists and hematologists (Foce) -: not to clog emergency rooms, wards and hospital wards. their own life and that of those who cannot be operated on because the intensive care bed is busy.
Serious risks due to referrals for millions of patients
The data presented in May 2021 during the National Cancer Patient Day promoted by the Italian Federation
voluntary associations in oncology (Favo) had already made the situation very clear: due to the pandemic in 2020 in Italy, 99% of operations for breast cancer were postponed, 99.5% of those in the prostate, 74 , 4% to the colorectal. And at the beginning of the summer, experts had repeatedly stressed the urgency to run for cover both to curb the many damages and delays caused by Covid and to organize themselves in the best possible way in view of the dreaded new winter waves. And now here we go again – says Cognetti -. Two years of pandemic have passed without identifying adequate solutions to guarantee assistance to the most fragile patients such as oncology, cardiology and hematology. We are very concerned about the de facto blockage of planned surgical activity caused by the new pandemic wave caused by the Omicron variant. This paralysis risks causing serious damage to our patients, who number about 11 million in Italy. In fact, we remind you that the postponement of surgical interventions can favor the development of tumors in more advanced stages, with fewer chances of recovery. An urgent redefinition of the national health system is needed, modernizing and strengthening hospitals, re-establishing territorial medicine, with a clear separation between hospitals, areas of care and assistance for Covid and non-Covid patients.
Delays in operating rooms and early diagnosis
In 2021, part of these activities had been recovered, but the current situation marks a new step backwards. Also in the cardiovascular field in 2020 the decline in hospitalizations was about 20% (for implants of defibrillators, pacemakers and major cardiac surgery) and even greater for myocardial infarction with increased mortality. The Italian Society of Cardiology (SIC) is carrying out a survey to update these data, but on a preliminary analysis it seems that the situation has not improved. In these two years we have proposed operational documents to the institutions with continuous discussions, but nothing has been achieved to protect fragile patients – recalls President Foce -. In 2020 there were over 1.3 million fewer hospitalizations than in 2019, even the urgent ones were skipped. Oncological surgery admissions have seen a noticeable contraction and a decrease of about 50-80% of the elective activity, i.e. programmed, as communicated by the Italian Society of Surgery. In 2020 compared to 2019, also about 2 million and means of examinations for in less for the early diagnosis of tumors. We have also repeatedly asked for the restart of anti-cancer screening throughout the national territory – continues the expert -. In autumn 2020 some Regions managed to deliver more tests than in 2019, there is no data for 2021 to photograph the current state. An update at least every six months is needed to understand the critical issues to be addressed in real time. Screenings are essential for identifying early-stage malignancies and improving survival.
There are no beds
In 2019, ordinary hospital beds were 314 per 100 thousand inhabitants, compared to a European average of 500, placing our country in 22nd place in Europe for this parameter. There was also a very evident gap for beds in intensive care, with 9 beds per 100 thousand inhabitants in Italy, compared, for example, to 33 in Germany. Little or nothing has changed in these two years. The shortcomings of the hospital sector, as explained in the programmatic document drawn up by the scientific societies gathered in the “Permanent Forum on the National Health System in the post Covid”, are among the main causes that are causing extremely harmful effects during the pandemic – concludes Cognetti -. A revision of Ministerial Decree 70 on hospital standards is needed as soon as possible. It is necessary to allocate more resources to nosocomial assistance, also drawing from the funds of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and beyond.
January 12, 2022 (change January 12, 2022 | 18:17)
© REPRODUCTION RESERVED
#Operating #theaters #alarm #nonurgent #interventions #blocked #due #pandemic