Lo last March, while the epidemic brought hospitals to their knees for the first time, this newspaper recounted the parable of the Piedmontese healthcare system in recent years, heavily marked by budget deficits and repayment plans: twelve closed hospital centers and a constant and progressive depletion of what was left. Fewer doctors, fewer nurses. And fewer beds: from almost 20,000 to the current 11,700 in twenty years.
Now that hundreds of Covid patients flock to emergency rooms every day, in addition to converting everything that can be converted (to the detriment of other patients), the only thing possible is being done: we turn to private individuals. Who, however, like it or not, pursue their interests and get paid: for the Covid patients they receive from the public in apnea – more “expensive” than other patients – and for the lost earnings from hospitalizations, often remunerative, which are forced to postpone having no more room.
The audience loses twice. And it pays for its progressive dismantling. It always happens like this, when the state backs down: sooner or later the bill arrives; and it is almost always very saltyO. —
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