Respond to requests for assistance from Ukrainian refugees and offer doctors fleeing war zones a new professional opportunity. This is the goal of WhatsApp channel made available by Santagostino, a network of 34 comprehensive specialist polyclinics. According to the latest Eurostat projections – reports a note from Santagostino – there are 11 thousand Ukrainian refugees, fleeing war zones, welcomed in Italy: a population with a high need for care and assistance that Santagostino, the first in Italy, tried to satisfy with a non-specialist medical service involving Ukrainian professionals, who arrived as refugees, and with the necessary skills to help their fellow refugees in Italy.
For this reason, the Whatsapp channel 3441003172 is active from today to respond, thanks to a mother-tongue operator, to requests for assistance from Ukrainian refugees and manage reservations in a clinic in Milan, in the Repubblica headquarters, in via Panfilo Castaldi 6 , which will be allocated for four hours a week to the provision of these services.
“We are only leaving now because the bureaucratic process to obtain the skills passport was longer than expected – he declares Luca Foresti, CEO of Santagostino – But it is from the first day of the emergency that we started thinking about this project with a dual purpose: provide basic medical care (with a free first visit) to people so tried and without points of reference, and reintegrate professionals who have had to leave their jobs in Ukraine back into the labor market. Today we are the first and only private structure committed, thanks to the collaboration with the non-profit organization Ascolto, our partner in social projects for years, to offer a service to this population torn from their country and forced to flee because of the war”.
To access the service, Ukrainian citizens can write a Whatsapp message in their language to 3441003172 (to do so, save the number in your address book or click on https://wa.me/393441003172). The request – the note explains – will be taken over by a mother-tongue operator who will fix the appointment. The channel is active from Monday to Friday, from 9 to 18. Non-specialist consultations will be provided by a Ukrainian medical professional in collaboration with a Ukrainian registered nurse. Both, thanks to this service, will have a new opportunity in Italy to practice their profession. All this was possible – concludes the note – thanks to the derogation desired by the Draghi government from the recognition of professional titles for Ukrainian doctors, nurses and Oss (who lived in Ukraine before February 24, 2022). For them it is enough to be in possession of the European qualifications passport (Eqpr) to be able to practice in Italy.