Mandorino (Cittadinanzattiva): “Return to skipped treatments for Covid new emergency”

“The return to care for non-Covid patients today is the new emergency that I feel I can compare to the pandemic itself. According to Istat, between 2020 and 2021 there were 30 thousand more deaths than the average of the previous 5 years. Although it is difficult to determine what they are due to, it is not impossible to link these deaths to the lack of attention in the short term for oncological and cardiovascular diseases, for which time is of the essence. More difficult to predict how much the lack of prevention will affect quality of the health of our country which, let us remember, has never excelled for prophylaxis “. Thus Anna Lisa Mandorino, general secretary of Cittadinanzattiva, spoke on the topic of skipped visits due to Covid, on the occasion of the fifth Talk of ‘Allies for Health’ (www.alleatiperlasalute.it) the new portal dedicated to medical-scientific information created from Novartis Italia. Title of the debate: ‘How to return to treatment? Recovering skipped visits and exams due to Covid ‘, which was also attended by Silvia Bencivelli, doctor and journalist, and Federico Luperi, Innovation and New Media director of Adnkronos who moderated the event. The real impact of the lockdown on diagnosis and treatment emerged in figures from the online meeting. From March to June 2020, 30-50% of outpatient services were postponed and in the same period there were: -69% diagnosis and treatment of chronic diseases; -61% of treatments for mental health disorders; -55% of oncological diagnoses and biopsies and -64% of surgeries (99% for breast and colon cancer). According to the XXIII Pit Health Report of Cittadinanzattiva, in the first 5 months of 2020, about 1 million and 400 thousand fewer screening exams were performed in Italy than in the same period of 2019, oncological diagnoses were more than halved, while 70 % of patients withdrew from rehabilitation. “The estimates of the National Screening Observatory – underlined Bencivelli, who is also the voice of the new podcast of Allies for Health – speak of 1 million and 400 thousand tests lost in 2020. This means that 2,000 breast cancers will be diagnosed late, 1,700 cervical tumors and 600 colorectal cancers. But these data refer only to prevention, because those who had a diagnosis had difficulty in being examined. Many, in fact, have given up going to hospitals and even to emergency rooms for fear of contracting the virus. It may have been a reasonable choice, but specialist cardiovascular disease laboratories tell us that many patients have arrived too late for the onset of heart attack symptoms and it is estimated that heart attack mortality could even be tripled “. According to the report ‘Let’s go back to heal ourselves. Health professionals and citizens: between Covid and health needs’ – created by Cittadinanzattiva in collaboration with Fimmg – the most reported inconveniences concern the cancellation of visits and exams already booked (ultrasound scans and other services provided for cancer patients) before the pandemic (49.9%). In 34.4% of cases citizens report the difficulty of booking new visits and exams, in some cases it is impossible due to the ‘block sine die’ of waiting lists. All this increases the risk of not intercepting emerging pathologies in a timely manner. Once the acute phase of the pandemic has passed, the National Health Service will have to deal with a worsening of the criticalities already present before Covid, the result of a ten-year definition of financing, and organizational issues, such as waiting lists, in fact, further worsened. Among the proposals made by Cittadinanzattiva to return to health care: implement the Government’s National Plan on waiting lists, ensure the effective application of the Health Pact 2019-2021, improve surveillance and assistance with digital tools and use of data and enhance telemedicine services. “With the Regions – Mandorino recalled – we had begun to implement the National Plan on waiting lists, then the arrival of the pandemic blocked everything. Even on the Pact for Health between the State and the Regions, closed after so much time and effort. ‘beginning of 2021, Covid has given the coup de grace. We must start from these priorities and the simplification of procedures. The National Health Service cannot be the most residual welfare area in Italy because it represents a great infrastructure of social cohesion and seal of the country “. According to Mandorino, during the lockdown it was also the lack of communication between the doctor and health companies that weighed. “74% of the doctors interviewed in our report – he pointed out – declares that they have personally provided information material on the behaviors to be followed and that in many cases (66.42%) the solutions adopted by the ASL have been ineffective and inefficient in responding to the health needs of citizens and the requests of medical personnel. General practitioners have been abandoned. It is no coincidence that as Cittadinanzattiva we organized a fundraiser to purchase personal protective equipment which they did not have “.