ROME «There are more than a thousand doctors and there will be 6,300 more nurses predicted in the budget law: a very clear signal of how the Government wants to invest in health professionals». With these words, a few days ago, the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci, presented the steps taken to overcome the great nightmare of unmanned hospital wards. And if it is true that economic resources are always insufficient – for the government those resources are increased because in absolute terms there is an increase; for the opposition, this alone is not enough, as the percentage of GDP is declining – it is certain that there are other things that are also causing the exit of doctors and nurses (future and present) from the national public health system.
CONDITION
And Schillaci himself told Rainews24: «It is clear that doctors’ salaries must be adjusted. But it’s not just about that. Every time I go abroad and meet doctors, Italian researchers, health workers, I am convinced that the reason I fled in the first place was in search of less bureaucracy. They want to have more flexible employment contracts, that is why I say and repeat that the employment contracts of health workers must be reported to the Ministry of Health.” Great, but how is this done? The Ministry of Health remembers that the budget law of 2026 provides 450 million euros to employ the thousand doctors and 6,300 nurses mentioned by Schillaci. We also intervene on pay slips. Or more precisely: in the budget law of 2025 there is an increase in resources for emergency room allowances (50 million euros from January 1 2025, another 50 million euros from 1 January 2026). “And again in the previous budget – they observed in the Ministry – 120 million euros per year have been allocated from 2026 to improve the economic treatment of postgraduate students: starting from the 2025-2026 academic year, the fixed part of the economic treatment for all specialties will increase by 5 percent and the variable part for specializations will increase by 5 percent. the current less attractive 50 percent”. In the new budget law “there is a further increase in special allowances, more significant for nurses, amounting to 280 million euros which is in addition to the allowance starting in 2025″. For example, once again to convince nurses to stay in public hospitals, a flat tax of 5 percent on overtime was introduced. As a demonstration of efforts to strengthen the workforce, a quote from the hearing of the Court of Auditors was quoted in the meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives and the Senate dedicated to the Budget law: «Starting the year 2026, compared to the amounts that have been allocated by the previous budget law (327 million for doctors and veterinarians and 285 million for nurses; budget law 2025) 280 million will be added to increase these allowances (85 million for medical managers and veterinarians, 195 million for nurses once fully operational, respectively 412 and 480 million have been allocated for this increase in allowances”. Therefore, «the increase in allowances for doctors and veterinarians is about The 745 euros per year is calculated against the increase envisaged by the previous budget law, which would ensure that the average increase in benefits amounts to approximately 3,052 euros gross per year; the nurses’ allowance will increase by approximately 701 euros per year, with a total amount, taking into account the increase estimated by the previous budget law, equal to approximately 1,600 euros gross”.
COURSE
Then there is the increasingly obvious problem of a shortage of family doctors. They announced to the Ministry of Health: «In the health professions reform bill, among other things, a School of General Medical Specialization is established. Currently family doctors are trained with regional courses. And with the transition to specialized schools, training and contractual remuneration increased.” Finally, Schillaci’s plan to improve the working conditions of hospital doctors also includes interventions to protect them from the rain of complaints and requests for compensation for damages that are not always justified: doctors and health workers will be criminally liable only in the event of serious negligence, if they operate in accordance with the guidelines and good clinical care practices. And to combat the epidemic of attacks in emergency rooms or departments, arrest delay measures have been implemented. envisaged.
© ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
