If it doesn't already work in these latitudes, the final blow to healthcare in the South will come from differentiated autonomy. The Calderoli bill, approved by the Senate and now being examined by the Chamber, is the subject of the focus of the Gimbe Foundation which puts at least one new element on the table: the system «will not only lead to the collapse of healthcare in the South, but will also give the final blow to the National Health Service, causing an unprecedented health, economic and social disaster», summarizes Nino Cartabellotta.
The increasingly negative balance The president of Gimbe yesterday illustrated the results of the report, according to which “enormous gaps in healthcare between North and South have been documented since 2010”, raising “concerns regarding equity of access to care”. There are numerous examples in this regard. First of all, no region in the South is in the top 10 of the Essential Levels of Assistance (Lea) in the decade 2010-2019. And then, in terms of health mobility, all the regions of the South, with the exception of Molise, have accumulated an overall negative balance of 13.2 billion euros in the period 2010-2021 (Calabria alone has a minus sign followed by 2,969. 350,012 euros), while on the podium are the three regions that have already requested the greatest autonomy. And again, the achievement of the objectives of the “Health Mission” of the Pnrr is slowed down by the poor performance of the Centre-South: from the over 65s to be assisted in ADI with abnormal increase objectives of around 300% for Campania, Lazio, Puglia and beyond 400% for Calabria, to the implementation of the electronic health record with very low activation and feeding percentages; from the number of structures to be built (community houses, territorial operations centers, community hospitals), to the provision of nursing staff well below the national average, especially in Campania, Sicily and Calabria. Add to this the fact that all the regions of Southern Italy (except Basilicata) are together with Lazio under a recovery plan, with Calabria and Molise even under commissionership, a status which imposes a “paralysis” in the reorganization of services. «Contrary to the enthusiastic proclamations on the advantages of greater autonomy for the South – explains Cartabellotta – no Southern Region today can make requests for greater autonomy in healthcare».
