Gerli (Sir): “Few places in the Schools of Rheumatology, more specialists are needed”

“In Italy there is a shortage of specialists in rheumatology. The high cutoff in access to specialization schools indicates that there is a high demand, in the face of the low number of places made available by the ministry”. Thus Roberto Gerli, president of the Italian Society of Rheumatology (Sir), commented on the problem of late diagnosis in diseases such as ankylosing spondylitis and psoriatic arthritis, to which Anmar (National Association of Rheumatic Patients), with the support of AbbVie, has dedicated the conference in streaming ‘The invisible pain’. “Looking at the number of places available in the Schools of specialization in Rheumatology – added the expert – it is clear that they are very few compared to other schools with a similar number of patients. The ministry must understand that the figure of rheumatologist is fundamental in a global care path, also because one of the effects is that patients end up turning to private individuals, a circumstance that contradicts the universalistic principle of our National Health Service “. “Furthermore – underlined the president Sir – rheumatology is a branch that has made enormous progress in therapy, compared to other disciplines, and this merit should be recognized”.