If there was a risk of a tie between the centre-right and centre-left coalitions, the doctors certainly 'lost the elections'. In fact, they are 30% fewer than in the last legislature, for a total of 53 parliamentary doctors, of which 41 in the Chamber and 'only' 12 in the Senate. Among the next 'tenants' of Montecitorio there will also be three pharmacists and two veterinarians, while a nurse has been elected at Palazzo Madama. The fortnightly health policy magazine 'Il Scalpel' will analyze the composition of the new Parliament in its next issue on 9 May. The results of the last elections have therefore drastically reduced the representation of the medical profession in parliamentary halls. A negative trend that has been going on for 10 years. In fact, if after the 1996 elections there were 80 'white coats', their number, after those of 2001, dropped to 75, up to the current 53, at least according to the lists published by the Chamber and Senate on their respective websites. The 12 senatorial doctors were elected from the lists of Forza Italia (4), Democrazia e Libertà (3), Left Democrats (2), Lega Nord (2) and UDC (1), while the Italian Communists elected a nurse to the Senate. In the Chamber, however, the 41 doctors elected come from the lists of the Ulivo (15), Forza Italia (10), An (4), Udc (4), Udeur (2), Dc-nuovo Psi (2), Italian Communists (1), Communist Refoundation (1), Verdi (1), Italia dei Valori The results of the vote of 9 and 10 April will also force a profound revision of the parliamentary commissions that deal with health. In the Senate, in fact, only 6 of the 25 members of the Hygiene and Health Commission were reconfirmed in the last legislature, while 3 former members of this Commission passed to the Chamber and as many as 16 were not re-elected. The Social Affairs Commission of the Chamber could have greater continuity, given that 26 of its 46 members in the last legislature were reconfirmed in the Chamber of Deputies, of whom 2 were elected to the Senate and 18 did not see their parliamentary mandate confirmed.
