Benedetti (Fismad): ‘After Covid, restart from the gastroenterology area’

“The pandemic has taught us the importance of medical services in the area. It is no coincidence that on the occasion of the Fismad Congress, after 2 difficult years marked by the pandemic, we want to restart from the gastroenterology of the area. In Italy ‘nominally’ there is no gastroenterology of the territory, but we know that a whole series of moments, such as screenings or follow-ups, must not take place, and it is not useful that they take place, in hospitals for acute patients, but should instead be managed and treated by the territory. this is why as Fismad we participate in the organization of the Ministerial Decree n.71 / 2022 (Models and standards for the development of territorial assistance in the National Health Service), on which the National Recovery and Resilience Plan will focus much of its immediate activity and, above all, it will be the basis of important funding that is taking place in the health sector “. So Antonio Benedetti, president of the Italian Federation of Digestive System Diseases, on the occasion of the 28th Fismad Congress underway in Rome. Three messages that the congress sends to the institutions: “The confirmation of the fact that digestive system diseases represent on average, among acute and chronic patients, the second cause of hospitalization at national level – remarked Benedetti – Furthermore, we want to remember that beds available in acute care hospitals with regard to gastroenterology are certainly few and that, despite the slightly increased staff, more needs to be done by increasing the number of beds and operating units operating for gastroenterology. Third and last message, the ‘establishment of a gastroenterology of the territory that participates in some activities of its discipline, such as the follow-up in chronic forms, with what is being designed for the medicine of the territory “.