The alarm: in three years one million Italians risk being left without
From Hippocrates onwards, doctors have always been key figures in any social structure. By role and public function. Something has changed in Italy for some time now. And not for the better. The category struggles between structural crises and dire future prospects. Young and old doctors see their professional future at risk. The sources of the crisis are at least three.
The first front of the emergency concerns young people: doctors and dentists enter the profession on average at the age of 37 and with an income of less than 17 thousand euros a year (more precisely 16,786 euros). The data was obtained from Enpam, the social security institution for doctors and dentists, by analyzing the new registrations to its fund of the free profession. These are numbers that highlight two aspects. On the one hand that of late entry into the world of work; on the other, the problem of the adequacy of future pensions (if I earn little and, moreover, at a late age, the allowance awaiting me will probably not be adequate to face old age).
The second alarm concerns the generational relay. The ENPAM Observatory on work – which will release all the analytical data from the world of healthcare tomorrow – shows that since 2016 almost one million Italians will be left without a family doctor. In fact, in three years there will be 600 fewer general practitioners. Considering that each family doctor can have up to 1,500 patients, this means that around 900,000 Italians could be left without a doctor. A number destined to grow further due to future retirements. From 2016, an entire generation of family doctors will retire, altering the balance of the category. In three years, in fact, 1,499 members of the general medicine pension fund will reach retirement age (68).
In the same year, fewer than 900 new family doctors are expected to leave the general practice training schools. "In the coming years we may be forced to call specialists and family doctors from abroad - declares the president of the Enpam Foundation, Alberto Oliveti -
