Osteopathy, doors open in the National Health System
Decree on the equivalence of qualifications published in the Official Gazette
Key points
Osteopathy can officially enter the National Health System as a recognised profession in the area ofhealth promotion and prevention. With the publication in the Official Gazette (117 of 22 May) of the decree on the equivalence of qualifications in osteopathy, the implementation path envisaged by Law 3 of 2018, which established the health profession of osteopath, has come to completion. The announcement of the imminent publication in the Gazette had been made a decade ago by Cristina Rinaldi, of the Health Professions Directorate General of the Ministry of Health, during the 11th National Congress of the Registro Osteopati d'Italia (Roi), held last weekend in Rome.
"Today we are celebrating a moment that will remain engraved in the history of our profession," said Mauro Longobardi, President of Roi, with satisfaction. "The path of regulation of osteopathy in Italia stems from a long work of institutional confrontation and professional recognition, symbolically started on 12 June 2014, when, as institutional bodies of the Register of Osteopaths of Italy, we were received in a hearing, at the Senate Health Commission, by the late Senator President, Emilia De Biasi, to set out the reasons for its regulation as an autonomous health profession".
The legislative stages
As mentioned, the institutional process concretely got underway with law 3/2018 (the so-called Lorenzin law) which, in Article 7, identifies and establishes the health profession of the osteopath, laying the foundations for its inclusion in the National Health System. Subsequently, Presidential Decree 131 of July 2021 implemented the State-Regions Agreement of 2020, defining theprofessional profile of the osteopath and the relevant competences. With Interministerial Decree 1563 of November 2023, the educational system of the degree course in Osteopathy was therefore regulated, introducing the qualifying university course within the class of degrees in the health professions of prevention (L/SNT/4).
Regularisation
The profession was waiting for the decree on the equivalence of qualifications precisely to ensure proper recognition of the profession, especially for all those who had studied abroad - the United Kingdom and France were among the first to spread osteopathy in Europe in the first half of the 20th century - or who had started their practice before the legislative definition.
The launch of the degree course in Osteopathy had, in the meantime, clarified and institutionalised the academic and professional pathway for young people wishing to approach this profession which, let us remember, falls within the maxi order of the health professions (Fno Tsrm-Pstrp), with its own dedicated Albo, and which often works in collaboration with other health professions to offer treatments based on manual techniques, external and non-invasive. "As a national federation, we have followed every step of this process with the sense of responsibility that pertains to our institution and we are ready to welcome osteopaths into our Orders," commented Diego Catania, president of Fno Tsrm and Pstrp. "An important recognition for many professionals who have built up skills and waited patiently for them to be recognised".
