The worst situation is in Rome and the region, where more than 1,100 patients are waiting to be admitted to hospital, according to the Italian Association of Emergency Medicine and Urgent Care.
Just a few days ago, ambulances were lined up outside a hospital in Rome. In other regions, such as Lombardy, patients are crammed into waiting rooms until beds become available.
In cities such as Turin, overcrowded hospitals are even causing a shortage of stretchers for patients.
Emergency departments at Italian hospitals are in shambles and on the verge of collapse.
The worst situation is in Rome and the region, where more than 1,100 patients are waiting to be admitted to hospital, according to the Italian Association of Emergency Medicine and Emergency Care (Simeu).
“We are trying to guarantee our services, but we are in a very difficult situation,” Simeu president Fabio de Raco said.
The number of patients waiting in Piedmont has reached around 500, Simeu said, and in Lombardy and its capital Milan, regular hospitalizations have been temporarily suspended to “free up” some beds for emergencies. It is said to have been suspended.
What is behind the collapse of hospitals?
The rise in hospitalizations, which is putting pressure on Italy's healthcare system, is due to an increase in “respiratory diseases, especially among the elderly.”
According to local media, Delaco said on Tuesday: “While the coronavirus has decreased slightly in the last week and influenza is circulating, other viruses are also causing 'overcrowding' in hospitals and extremely high pressure on emergency services. It's causing it,” he said.
In fact, according to the latest epidemiological bulletin from the Institute of Health and Welfare, the week before Christmas, from December 18th to 24th, “the influenza epidemic curve was pushed to an incidence rate that had never been reached in previous seasons.'' ”.
And according to the Italian government itself, the situation is far from stabilizing.
“While some regions have activated plans to decongest hospitals and medical companies to find additional beds, chronic shortages of hospital beds mean that surgical and medical There's nothing to do but take beds away from other specialties. Of course, this doesn't solve the problem,” Delaco said.
As the situation worsens, doctors are becoming exhausted and there are many alarming articles in the Italian press. “Hospitals on the brink” was one of the headlines in La Repubblica.
Doctors never have a day off
President Simeu pointed out that many doctors in Italy's public health system have not been able to rest over Christmas and New Year.
Holidays are a “luxury”, he said, citing Piedmont's capital as an example. “In Turin, for example, holidays during the Christmas period were unreliable.” “The vast majority of doctors work uninterrupted over the Christmas period. “I was doing it,” he said. ”.
Experts are urging Italians to get vaccinated, saying the virus has not yet reached its expected influenza peak next week when schools reopen after the holidays.
Massimiliano Valeriani and Emanuela Dolohei, local councilors from the center-left Democratic Party, visited two hospitals in the capital on Tuesday, the Umberto I General Hospital and the Sant'Andrea General Hospital, where they reported a “large number of infected people”. found a “very complex” situation. patient”.
They complained that “ambulance congestion, postponed surgeries, clogged emergency rooms, and clogged beds with coronavirus patients are all due to the late start of vaccinations.”
