- Marta Paterlini, freelance journalist
- Stockholm
- martapaterlini{at}gmail.com
“Our profession is not given any value any longer.” So read a joint statement from Italy’s healthcare unions in December 2023.
Italy ended 2023 and began 2024 in poor health, following a 24 hour national strike on 5 December1 and plans for another early this year. Tensions are high among its healthcare professionals following disappointment at a newly approved financial bill that did little to tackle concerns about a public healthcare system in dire straits.
“The whole healthcare system is close to collapse,” says Pierino di Silverio, president of Anaao Assomed, Italy’s biggest trade union for doctors. According to the union, Italy needs 15 000 doctors and 65 000 nurses. Long waiting lists on top of pandemic burnout have seen many staff leave national hospitals for the private sector or to work abroad.
Overcrowded emergency departments, a shortage of local GPs and paediatricians, and entrenched inequality between richer and poorer regions has further escalated frustrations. Di Silverio says that four million people—7% of the population—have given up on treatment because of long waiting lists and high costs.
On 18 December 2023—the 45th anniversary of the introduction of Italy’s national health service (INHS)—Minister of Health Orazio Schillaci said that more resources than ever had been allocated to health, which would reduce waiting lists and improve salaries. According to Schillaci, the current budget will rise to €2.3bn (£2bn; $2.5bn) for 2024 and €2.6bn for 2025.
But these are absolute figures, which Italy’s health unions say do not account for inflation and the fact that overall healthcare spending is being reduced to 6.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2025. The group of unions, which includes Anaao Assomed, CIMO-FESMED (INHS doctors), Nursing Up …