(ANSA) – ROME, MAR 4 – A report on healthcare presented Tuesday by independent health foundation GIMBE denounced Italy’s shortage of family doctors, saying that over 5,500 general practitioners are missing in Italy with an increasing number of citizens having a hard time to find general-medicine doctors, especially in large regions. While a total of 7,300 GPs are set to retire by 2027, the number of young doctors choosing to become GPs is continuing to decrease, the GIMBE foundation said in the report.
The analysis found that 15% of scholarships available to medical students who choose to train to become GPs were not assigned in 2024, with peaks of over 40% in six regions.
Meanwhile, the population is aging with the number of over-80s trebling in 40 years and over half of the senior population suffering from at least two chronic diseases requiring regular assistance, GIMBE said.
In particular, the study found that, between 2019 and 2023, the number of GPs had decreased by 39% in Sardinia, 25.8% in Puglia, 20.9% in Calabria and 16.7% in Abruzzo.
Only the autonomous province of Bolzano recorded over the same period a limited increase of 1%, the report found.
The president of the GIMBE Foundation, Nino Cartabellotta, said the shortage of GPs affects all regions across Italy and said the profession is “increasingly less attractive”.
Meanwhile, with a general shortage of family doctors reported across the country, 51.7% of GPs had over 1,500 patients each, said GIMBE.
In particular, according to official figures dating back to January 1 2023, the country’s 37,260 GPs treated nearly 51.2 million patients with an average of 1,374 patients each, according to the GIMBE report. (ANSA).
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The analysis found that 15% of scholarships available to medical students who choose to train to become GPs were not assigned in 2024, with peaks of over 40% in six regions.
Meanwhile, the population is aging with the number of over-80s trebling in 40 years and over half of the senior population suffering from at least two chronic diseases requiring regular assistance, GIMBE said.
In particular, the study found that, between 2019 and 2023, the number of GPs had decreased by 39% in Sardinia, 25.8% in Puglia, 20.9% in Calabria and 16.7% in Abruzzo.
Only the autonomous province of Bolzano recorded over the same period a limited increase of 1%, the report found.
The president of the GIMBE Foundation, Nino Cartabellotta, said the shortage of GPs affects all regions across Italy and said the profession is “increasingly less attractive”.
Meanwhile, with a general shortage of family doctors reported across the country, 51.7% of GPs had over 1,500 patients each, said GIMBE.
In particular, according to official figures dating back to January 1 2023, the country’s 37,260 GPs treated nearly 51.2 million patients with an average of 1,374 patients each, according to the GIMBE report. (ANSA).
Read article…
