The Hard Lessons Learned by the COVID-19 Epidemic in Italy: Rethinking the Role of the National Health Care Service?

Authors

Philippe Primo Caimmi^{1, *}, Andrea Capponi¹, Fabrizio Leigheb¹, Franca Dall’ Occo¹, Roberto Sacco¹, Mario Minola¹, Emmanouil Ioannis Kapetanakis^2,

¹Medical Directorate, University Hospital of Novara, Corso Mazzini 18, Novara 28100, Italy

²Department of Intensive Care (I.C.U.) & Covid-19 Care Unit, “Tzaneio” General Hospital of Piraeus, Zanni & Afentouli Avenue, Piraeus, 18536, Greece

^*Corresponding author. Email: philippe.caimmi@maggioreosp.novara.it

DOI

10.2991/jegh.k.210420.001How to use a DOI?

Keywords

COVID-19; SARS-Cov-2; Pandemic; National Health Care System

Abstract

The dramatic events precipitated by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus pandemic have highlighted the limitations and contradictions of our country’s current health care delivery model plagued by the closure of healthcare delivery structures, staff reductions, privatizations and inadequate funding which have been affecting the Italian National Health System during the past 10 years. The COVID-19 epidemic has a hefty bill: thousands of deaths - mainly elderly, hospitals overwhelmed, residential assistance structures reaching their limits, sick people left alone and uncared in homes, the disruption in life habits and an altered daily way of living never experienced before; all have contributed into making the ongoing tragedy even more painful. Herewith, we present and discuss the information and reflections from our experiences and postulate the rethinking of the established socio-health policies not only in Italy but also in other western countries which have failed to curtail the epidemic via conventional management approaches.

Copyright

© 2021 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press International B.V.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Philippe Primo Caimmi
AU  - Andrea Capponi
AU  - Fabrizio Leigheb
AU  - Franca Dall’ Occo
AU  - Roberto Sacco
AU  - Mario Minola
AU  - Emmanouil Ioannis Kapetanakis
PY  - 2021
DA  - 2021/04/25
TI  - The Hard Lessons Learned by the COVID-19 Epidemic in Italy: Rethinking the Role of the National Health Care Service?
JO  - Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health
SP  - 266
EP  - 270
VL  - 11
IS  - 3
SN  - 2210-6014
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/jegh.k.210420.001
DO  - 10.2991/jegh.k.210420.001
ID  - Caimmi2021
ER  -