Coronavirus: News from Lombardy, Italy

Lombardy, the situation in 
hospitals: "Collapsing 
structures and exhausted 
staff"
The testimony of a doctor from Bergamo: "The cases multiply, the results of the tampons come one after the other. Other that influences ..."

Lombardia, la situazione negli ospedali: "Strutture al collasso e personale sfinito"


Il Giornale,
8 March, 2020


Not everyone has probably seriously understood the serious Coronavirus situation in Italy, especially in the Northern Regions.


But those who are trying on their own skin the serious consequences are medical and health. To provide a precious testimony of the difficult moment in Lombardy was Daniele Macchini , who initially thought that silence was the remedy not to create panic, but subsequently thought it necessary to intervene because it shivers " when the message of the danger of what is happening is not it comes to people and I still hear who cares about the recommendations and people who get together complaining that they can't go to the gym or be able to do soccer tournaments . " In the letter sent to La Verità , the Bergamo doctor explained in detail what defines a situationdramatic : patients who come to the emergency room have " anything but the complications of a flu. They don't breathe enough, they need oxygen ".


Now the extreme urgency of beds has arrived : " One after the other the departments that had been emptied are filling up at an impressive rate ". Meanwhile, the epidemiological disaster is advancing, while there are those who boast " of not being afraid by ignoring the indications, protesting because their normal life habits are temporarily put in crisis ". The cases multiply, with peaks " of 15-20 hospitalizations a day all for the same reason. The results of the tampons come one after the other: positive, positive, positive. Suddenly the emergency room is collapsing". The reasons for access to the facilities are always the same: fever and difficulty breathing, fever and cough, respiratory failure.


"The Lombardy staff are exhausted"

Macchini underlined how every fan becomes gold: " Those of the operating rooms who have now suspended their non-urgent activity become intensive care places that did not exist before ". And those departments that until a few days ago looked like ghosts are now saturated: " The staff is exhausted. I saw the tiredness on faces that did not know what it was despite the already exhausting workloads they had. I saw people stop still beyond times at which they used to stop already, for overtime that was now habitual ".


The doctor from Lombardy then made an appeal to the citizens, who for a few days should do without theaters, museums and gyms: " Try to have pity for that myriad of elderly people that you could exterminate . It's not your fault, I know, but of those who put it in your head that you are exaggerating ". The main advice is to " stay away ". Finally he launched an appeal to those with elderly family members : " Make them stay at home. Bring them the shopping please. We have no alternative. It's our job ."

In ten years, 37 billion have been cut to public health: 70 thousand beds lost and 359 wards closed
The system, now in the trenches against coronavirus, has undergone several cuts in the last decade
In dieci anni tagliati 37 miliardi alla sanità pubblica: persi 70mila posti letto e chiusi 359 reparti

HuffPost,
3 March, 2020

In 10 years, 37 billion have been cut from public health. And so the system, explains AGI, in the trenches against the coronavirus, arrives at the debilitated appointment: despite the resources recovered in recent years, the trend has remained downward, so much so that, according to the Gimbe Foundation report of September 2019, the public funding was cut by over 37 billion in ten years, of which around 25 billion in 2010-2015 for cuts resulting from various financial maneuvers and over 12 billion in 2015-2019, when less resources were allocated to health than those planned for public finance needs.

In absolute terms, public funding has increased by 8.8 billion over 10 years, but growing by an average of 0.9% per annum, lower than the average annual inflation rate. A cut that inevitably translates into a drop in the level of care: a loss of over 70,000 beds in the last 10 years is estimated, with 359 wards closed, in addition to the numerous small reconverted or abandoned hospitals. It is no coincidence that the OECD data updated to July 2019 show that Italy is below average, both for total and public health expenditure, preceding only the Eastern European countries as well as Spain, Portugal and Greece. In the period 2009-2018, the percentage increase in public health expenditure stood at 10%, compared to an OECD average of 37%. Half of the 37 billion less to health in the decade, Gimbe points out, it also concerns health personnel. With the result, which today worries even more a country in shock, that we have arrived in Italy with 3.2 beds per thousand inhabitants. France has 6, Germany 8.