The new pact for territorial health signed at the beginning of February between the Emilia-Romagna Region and representatives of general practitioners raises doubts in the political world. The agreement, which introduces a series of practical innovations for professionals and patients with a view to reorganizing local care, has come under the magnifying glass of political forces. The regional secretary of the Christian Democracy Simona Vietina spoke on the topic.
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“Reform is a reassuring word. But when it arrives in a healthcare system that is already in trouble, with a shortage of doctors and budgets under pressure, the suspicion is different: won’t it be a disguised cut? It is the doubt that accompanies the new agreement on territorial medicine in Emilia-Romagna – explains Vietina -. The AFT promise clinics open from 8am to 8pm, more integration and less bureaucracy. On paper everything works. In reality, however, the number of doctors is not increasing: they are redistributed. In a system where many tenders are abandoned and thousands of citizens are without a GP, reorganizing those who are already not enough does not mean strengthening the service, but diluting a structural deficiency”.
“And the problem is not just numerical, it is human. The family doctor is not a shift on the agenda: it is trust, knowledge of the clinical history, continuity of care. With the teams you risk finding a different face every time – continues the secretary -. For the elderly, chronic patients and children it means less security, less relationship, more fragmentation. In mountain areas the issue becomes even more concrete: long journeys, doctors divided between several offices, families forced to travel kilometers with a sick child. An “online” doctor does not he’s a doctor down the street.”
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“The declared objectives are acceptable. But without new professionals the risk is evident: fewer points of reference, less perceived quality, more recourse to the private sector for those who can afford it. And for those who cannot? The choice is clear: do we want a local healthcare system built on numbers or on people? – concludes Vietina -. Because if the family doctor becomes interchangeable, we don’t just lose an organizational model. We lose a trust. And when we talk about health, it’s not enough to call it a reform to say that it is progress”.
date: 2026-02-14 01:29:00
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