Uap to Government: "Unthinkable cuts to accredited laboratories and clinics and then there are funds for pharmacies"

"It is inconceivable that the Government implements disproportionate cuts to healthcare facilities consisting of laboratories, outpatient clinics, clinics and accredited public and private hospitals, which number 27,000 units throughout the country, which provide healthcare services by virtue of a regional authorization issued following verification of the existence of 420 structural, technological and organizational requirements and with specialized medical personnel who assume civil and criminal liability for the medical act performed, and on the other hand allocates funds to pharmacies for the performance of self-control screening, by virtue of a mere municipal authorization to sell drugs, without regional authorization, without adequate space, without specialized medical personnel, without assumption of liability for the act performed". This is denounced by Uap , the National Union of Outpatient Clinics, Outpatient Clinics, Institutions and Private Hospitals, returning to the topic.

Uap highlights how, "in a time of crisis in the Italian healthcare system, during which a tariff nomenclature was approved that brought cuts in reimbursements of over 60-70% for healthcare services provided by accredited public and private facilities, the Puglia Region yesterday issued a council resolution with which it provided funding for pharmacies to carry out self-monitoring screening, with reimbursements of an economic value disproportionate to what is happening in the Italian healthcare scenario".

The association, which brings together under a single acronym all the trade associations representing the 27,000 healthcare facilities and over 350,000 employees, turns to the Prime Minister, "who has the health of Italians so much at heart, to ask for clarification on the political direction that is intended to be implemented to protect the health of citizens".

"Furthermore, it should be noted that this screening performed in a laboratory is provided, in compliance with all regulatory and quality assurance requirements, for only 5 euros, while if performed in a pharmacy, without any guarantee of quality and safety, it is sold for 30 euros, therefore 6 times more. In essence, this measure does not even respond to the logic of economic efficiency for the citizen", denounces Uap.

The association asks "what direction is our Government taking, are we moving towards a healthcare system without requirements and quality guarantees? Towards favoritism and strange market logics to the detriment of true precision medicine and very serious pathologies that must be treated in an adequate, scrupulous and definitive way? We cannot ignore the fact that the scrupulousness of a diagnosis can save a life and that recent news reports, instead, report the death of a citizen in a pharmacy waiting for the results of the electrocardiogram".

"The Hippocratic Oath and the protection of the right to health referred to in Article 32 of the Constitution require healthcare for all in accordance with the law, and instead we are witnessing more and more cuts every day towards healthcare workers who implement quality healthcare, while funds are allocated to those who do not meet the requirements", concludes the Uap.