Rome, November 20 (Adnkronos Health) – From January 1 2026 in Liguria there will be a ticket exemption for all diagnostic and therapeutic services aimed at patients with a confirmed diagnosis of exudative maculopathy. With the new bill, proposed by Health Councilor Massimo Nicolò – a note informs – Liguria, with an investment of 400 thousand euros, becomes the first region in Italy to guarantee citizens affected by this pathology free access to timely diagnosis and treatment. This measure is part of a broader vision health prevention and promotion strategy, with the aim of reducing cases of non-self-sufficiency and visual disability associated with eye diseases.
“With this intervention – state councilor Nicolò – we strengthen our commitment to guarantee care for the most vulnerable patients and promote the prevention of serious consequences such as visual impairment and blindness. This is a concrete step to reduce the social and economic burden of diseases often associated with metabolic diseases and aging, a particularly urgent problem, considering that our region has the oldest population in Europe, with major social and economic implications”.
This initiative responds to the increasing need to guarantee timely intervention against pathologies that have a high social and disabling impact. Exudative maculopathy is actually an eye disease that affects the macula, the central part of the retina responsible for clear and detailed vision, causing progressive damage to visual abilities. If not treated in time, this disease can cause severe loss of central vision. Therefore, early diagnosis and timely access to therapy are fundamental tools to preserve the patient’s vision and quality of life. In addition, from 24 November 2025 in Liguria, testing of the pharmaceutical screening project with Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) will also start in Liguria at ASL 3 and ASL 2, in the regions of Genoa and Savona, which will enable Ligurians to undergo advanced, rapid and non-invasive diagnostic tests free of charge, which are essential for preventing high-impact eye diseases in the first place.
OCT – the notes explain – is a test that uses light to obtain high-resolution images of the retina, macula and optic nerve. It is an important tool for the diagnosis and monitoring of diseases such as macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy, conditions that are increasingly widespread especially in populations with a high average age such as in Liguria. OCT examinations in pharmacies will be intended for residents in Liguria, who do not yet have a confirmed diagnosis of maculopathy or who have not undergone OCT in the last 18 months, who fall into the following categories: diabetics, identified through prescription of antidiabetic drugs (ATC code A10) or through diabetes exclusion; citizens aged 55 years and over.
In this first phase, 7 pharmacies will be involved, identified in the areas of both local health authorities and trained. The examination will be performed by an orthoptist, who will perform an initial assessment to identify critical problems and immediately refer the patient for further clinical examination, if necessary. “Liguria was one of the first regions in Italy to start the project foreseen in the ministry’s project on the experimentation of Pharmaceutical Services – underlines Nicolò – In fact, from the start, we took action so that the allocation provided by the Ministry of Health to our region, amounting to 2.2 million, which later became 3 million with financing for the current year, was used quickly and effectively for the experimentation of several services provided by pharmacies to evaluate their effectiveness, to make them structural and fully integrated in the regional health service. The latest and innovative project dedicated to OCT screening in pharmacies, thanks pharmacy capillarity and collaboration with general practitioners, ophthalmologists, diabetologists and geriatricians – he added – will contribute to strengthening the management of chronic conditions integration between regions and specialists – he concluded – could generate significant benefits for the health of citizens”.
