BOLZANO. The crisis among family doctors is serious. In all of Alto Adige there are 288 active, with around eighty missing.
In the Bolzano hospital: «Where to find comfort and hope» – Bolzano”>Bolzano health district – according to the latest ASL numbers – there are 131 professionals in service but 26 are missing.
The biggest problems are recorded in the city of Bolzano where there are 12 doctors missing compared to 57 specialists on duty.
Posts all banned for some time but only partially assigned. A crisis which, in view of further retirements, risks worsening soon.
«I’m a doctor in Laives, I can’t work in Bolzano”
And a doctor intervenes regarding the lack of staff in Bolzano and asks for an exemption. «I opened my business in Laives last January. In almost a year of working in this municipality my growth has been quite modest given that I have remained stuck at around a hundred patients. I therefore asked the Province for the transfer to the municipality of Bolzano where I know that currently the shortage and need for general practitioners is extremely marked compared to other areas, but I was told that it is bureaucratically not allowed since the law does not provide for the transfer of a doctor in another municipality before two years have passed since its first opening”. The doctor asks for an exemption. «Moreover, this legislation has already been applied in the past since both myself and two other colleagues who practice in the municipality of Laives survive exclusively thanks to the contribution of young doctors when an area nearby has an urgent need for doctors».
Fimmg: «Impossible exceptions, there is a national law»
Domenico Bossio, Fimmg trade unionist (Federation of general practitioners), says that no transfer and no exemption is possible.
«My colleague should know very well that, according to national legislation, it is not possible, after having signed an agreement for a particular municipality, to move immediately. You have to wait two years. We are not aware of any exceptions. Because it would be illegal.” A question confirmed by the health department and by the local health authority itself. «The two canonical years must pass».
The shortage is worrying
The shortage of young professionals who want to specialize in general medicine after graduation is worrying. And Bolzano is also paying for high living costs, high rents and bilingualism. Those who can stop a little further south. The lack of staff is so serious for the capital that the local health authority, a few months ago, asked some of the 131 professionals who work in the district to increase the number of patients in their care. In summary, those who had the canonical 1,575 patients could move up a level and reach 1,800. «It still remains to be clarified – the Fimmg union said – – why the email with the request was sent only to some doctors. Some colleagues said yes, others said they were against. It seems absurd to us that in a situation like this of overloaded work and bureaucracy, we continue to ask the usual suspects for efforts.”