BOLZANO. Of 10 thousand employees of the health company, 500 do not have bilingualism. One in twenty, mostly nurses. Another 500 are hired annually. And there are between 300 and 500 collaborators who leave South Tyrolean public healthcare every year, due to retirement or because they are attracted to the private sector or by competition outside the province.
These are the numbers presented by the general manager Christian Koflerappointed last spring, at a hearing in the Council. Among the priorities are linguistic strengthening and safety in the workplace. “It is unacceptable that those who work to help others are exposed to attacks,” Kofler said.
The numbers of the ASL
One thousand five hundred acute care beds and another 400 in affiliated facilities, 586 beds in Bolzano for 27,481 hospitalizations in 2023, 745 visits to the emergency room every day. Kofler mentioned the 100 thousand tourist overnight stays per day which require a healthcare response capacity, including for acute cases. For local assistance there are 281 family doctors and 51 paediatricians. «In 2023 the ASL budget amounted to 1.7 billion euros, 6.7% of South Tyrol’s GDP, just under the Italian average. 740 million euros were spent on staff,” he said. And about the 500 without bilingualism: «The local health authority does everything possible to promote languages, with full-time courses and stays abroad, and to retain employees».
Kofler’s priorities
The general director places local medicine among his priorities. 10 community homes are planned (the most advanced project is in Laives) and three community hospitals. So digitalisation, “a construction site to be closed within two-three years”, and waiting lists. «Last September, 3,900 MRI scans were requested, which require a month of work for 11 doctors», said Kofler, noting that «20-30% of the services indicated as priority are not». Therefore, the 50 primary brands to be put up for tender within the next 6-8 months and the renewal of the company regulations.
The reactions
TeamK councilor Franz Ploner, former head physician, asked specific questions about access and admissions, funds and the staffing plan. Sandro Repetto’s (Pd) intervention was timely: «We need to intervene on the expenses for rented buildings and on the appointments of chief executives. The central laboratory of Bolzano has not had a permanent head physician since 2012, and the SerD was supposed to be put out to tender in 2016. Furthermore, is it true that you are thinking of unifying the Anesthesia and Resuscitation services at San Maurizio? Then there is the problem of the IT system, with high costs and worse results. How much has been spent since 2007? Finally, with respect to local medicine, today all professionals claim to be unaware of the strategy, as well as finding themselves in serious difficulty due to the inadequacy of access to health data”.