They are on the front line but not enough: they are Italian doctors and nurses. They are already paying a heavy price in the war against the Coronavirus with 14 dead and almost 10% of the medical personnel contaminated by the disease.
The staff shortage was already serious before the epidemic, it is now tragic. “We need doctors and nurses, keeps repeating Attilio Fontana, the president of Lombardy. They are insufficient in number and exhausted. The call made in recent days to those who no longer work or to specialists in other regions has not produced the expected response ”.
Only 10% of retired Lombard doctors have made themselves available to resume service. “We have already blocked retirement and asked the government to force those who have stopped working to resume it”, announced the Lombard Regional Council health assessor.
The most important aid is foreign
Giuseppe Conte promised to send as soon as 300 doctors from all over Italy to support the most affected areas, foremost among which are the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia. But it is currently from abroad that the most important medical aid is routed. Lombardy, which criticizes the lack of solidarity of the European Union, officially requested it from China, Cuba and Venezuela.
The Cuban Foreign Ministry confirmed this request and announced that it will send “Personnel specialized in the treatment of contagious diseases”. This Saturday, 65 Cuban doctors and nurses, having notably combated the Ebola epidemic, will arrive in Milan. They will serve this Sunday in the hospitals of Crema in the province of Cremona.
Measures not strict enough, says Beijing
China has already promised 100,000 high-tech protective masks and has invited its companies to export 2 million ordinary medical masks to Italy. On March 12, 9 Chinese doctors and several tons of medical supplies, including ventilators, respiratory devices, electrocardiographs and tens of thousands of masks arrived in Rome on a special flight. Chinese President Xi Jinping, in a telephone conversation with Giuseppe Conte, said he was ready to send more experts and supplies. Twelve doctors and nurses as well as seventeen tonnes of equipment arrived last Wednesday from Beijing.
Within the delegation, the vice-president of the Red Cross in China, Sun Shuopeng, gave a press point in Milan: “People are not wearing masks, they are still too much outside, public transport still works”, was he surprised before adding: “The measures implemented are not strict enough by our standards”. A “Wuhan model” that the President of Lombardy asked the President of the Council to apply as soon as possible. “Otherwise the number of contagions risks exploding in Milan, and with it the entire health system. “
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