Plan for over 30,000 recruitments in the health sector: priority for nurses

"In the manoeuvre we are aiming for a three-year plan to recruit doctors and especially nurses, who are the ones most in need": health minister Orazio Schillaci is aiming straight at the heart of the health emergency - that of staff shortages - and reiterated this at the close of the G7 Health summit in Ancona, where he also announced, in the face of the 'current pandemic of antimicrobial resistance', the creation of a fund of 21 million in the manoeuvre to help research into new antibiotics.

Schillaci does not give exact numbers on recruitment pending a detailed understanding of the dowry available, but the goal is to exceed 30,000 and reach 40,000 if his colleague at the Economy Giancarlo Giorgetti finds the resources, giving priority to nurses, who are the figures that are most lacking. And from Ancona he also responds to the family doctors of the Fimmg, who have declared a state of agitation and are threatening to go on strike because they are asking for more resources in the manoeuvre for territorial assistance: 'I am ready to listen to them, but those who are paid little in Italy are the nurses, not the doctors,' the minister emphasises. Who also announces, after a bilateral meeting at the G7 with the Indian deputy minister, that he is now at the final details for the signing of a protocol to bring Indian nurses to our country, which has fewer of them than all the Big Seven of the Earth: "They have quality training and will follow courses to learn Italian. They will serve to fill the current shortage, especially for the start-up of the territorial healthcare in which the NRP is investing'.

In the budget law expected in the Council of Ministers as early as 20 October, the health sector will try to come up with a dowry of at least 2 billion, but this may not be enough to finance all the measures that the Schillaci-led ministry wants to bring home. Hence the attempt to raise the bar close to 3 billion because, in addition to the maxi recruitment plan to be financed over three years, in the pipeline there is the updating of hospital tariffs (the Drg) stopped since 2012, which alone is worth about 1 billion. These are the reimbursements that the Regions give to the ASLs - including private facilities affiliated with the SSN - for hospital care that in the meantime, between inflation and the advent of new technologies such as robotic surgery, have changed radically as well as being in some cases much more expensive.

Again to try to convince doctors and nurses not to run away from hospitals, the manoeuvre will aim at defiscalising part of the pay envelope that is still too far from that of European colleagues. A flat tax at 15 per cent - similar to the one already envisaged for overtime - will be introduced on the specificity allowance, which for doctors alone costs EUR 380 million and would translate into pay increases of EUR 200-220 net per month. The attempt to stem the flight from the National Health Service also includes possible increases for the contracts of young doctors: "Ways to incentivise them to enrol in the less sought-after specialities are being studied with Minister Giorgetti. In particular, an increase of 5% - approximately 100 euro more per month - is being considered for all specialisation students, and then more substantial increases (a range of 250 to 390 euro is hypothesised) for all those specialisations that are less attractive (for example, those for working in emergency rooms) and which see less than half of the available grants being filled each year.

In the manoeuvre there will also be funds to finance the 2024-2028 pandemic plan that has been sitting in the drawers for almost a year: 'We will put up the necessary funds for the plan and to respond to the regions' requests. In the Finanziaria there will be the resources to approve it'. Finally, the chapter on drugs should provide for an increase in the resources dedicated to pharmaceutical spending from the current 13.3 per cent calculated on the health fund to 13.8 per cent. In addition to the fight against antimicrobial resistance - "a silent war that is fought in laboratories and hospitals," Schillaci said - the G7 Health Ministers also discussed prevention and active ageing, as well as projects to boost pharmaceutical production capacity on the African continent. In the final declaration, the Earth's Big Seven launched an appeal to raise at least $2 billion over two years for the Pandemic Fund, as well as publishing a paper on the "opportunities and challenges" of artificial intelligence in the health sector, a market that will reach $190 billion as early as next year.