ROME – It is probably the most articulated and complex health decree in recent years. A container of many small reforms left pending and drafted in previous legislatures, which had never seen the light. From the reorganization of primary care and the non-stop opening of family doctors' offices to the obligation to produce drinks with a minimum 20% of fruit. From gambling restrictions and treatment for addicted gamblers to food safety regulations. And again, from drugs and the revision of the therapeutic handbook to the re-foundation of competitions for doctors and managers of the local health authorities with the aim of removing them from the monopoly of politics. Furthermore, there is much emphasis on lifestyles.
Criticized and attacked by all parties involved, the target of 1,300 amendments in the Chamber, yesterday the measure by Minister Renato Balduzzi was approved in the Senate and became law. The government had placed the trust, an initiative welcomed with discontent by the assembly. The League in particular and some exponents of the PDL took the gesture as a kind of robbery. "They didn't allow us an in-depth analysis", Raffaele Calabrò reiterated in the courtroom. "They snubbed our contribution," underlined Fazio Rizzi, Carroccio group leader in the health commission. «A very weak government without ideas», Felice Belisario, IDV, insists, noting that we have reached the forty-second request for confidence. Green light with 181 votes in favour, 43 no and 23 abstentions. Yes from the Democratic Party: "We voted for confidence because we see a shared health policy," says Senator Fiorenza Bassoli.
Balduzzi followed the parliamentary path of his text without missing a single meeting in the commission: «It has its own completeness, autonomy. The landing point is acceptable. All in all, the road was quick. Approved at the beginning of September by the Council of Ministers, in mid-October it passed to the Chamber modified in various points and, in others, weakened, especially where strong economic interests came into play. For example, the tax on sugary drinks and spirits, the less indefinite ban on slot machines from risk areas.
The next appointment is with the omnibus decree (including several interventions) which also in the expectations of Antonio Tomassini, president of the health commission of the Senate, will be able to bring improvements. Among the most qualifying rules are those that restructure the appointment of managers and chiefs who were very close to Prime Minister Mario Monti's heart. Mechanisms
