Adnkronos (Adnkronos) – “In the healthcare sector, fake news can often make the difference between life and death, because poor personal choices can lead to the death of those who make them. However, we are fighting against an enemy that is often invisible and difficult to combat, and which, for political, ideological, or, very often, economic reasons, spreads news that is difficult to counter.”
This was Walter Ricciardi's statement, Professor of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, speaking at the second annual Health Journalism Forum, currently underway at the Cardarelli Hospital in Naples. "Public administrations must organize themselves," he explained. "Communication must become an integral, not ancillary, part of their work, and naturally, collaboration with the media is essential in this regard.
But above all, the public must enter a new dimension compared to the past: communication is as important as providing good healthcare."
Regarding how to address the public healthcare crisis without generating alarmism or resignation, Ricciardi clarified: "Simply saying that the National Health Service, created in 78, was Italy's greatest public work, enabling our country to grow economically and socially, and failing to continue investing in the National Health Service means condemning the country to decline, not only economically and socially, but also in terms of healthcare. This decline becomes dire with the aging population, because it effectively means abandoning the elderly to their own devices, leaving people alone without access to services."
"However, we must appeal to the general population," Ricciardi added. "While in other countries, such as Spain and England, thousands of people have taken to the streets to defend the National Health Service, in Italy these demonstrations have never happened, and even when doctors and healthcare workers have called for action, they have found themselves alone. Citizens must understand that they are losing a vital service, and they can't realize it only when they end up abandoned for days on an emergency room bed: they need to do so sooner."
For Ricciardi, the main threat to the sustainability and universality of the system is "getting all the stakeholders to agree. Politicians want to be elected and stay in power, healthcare managers want to keep their accounts in order, professionals want to do their jobs well. And citizens, when they're healthy, are different from patients: they want to spend as little as possible, pay low taxes, buy a car, and go on vacation. But when they get sick, and this happens increasingly frequently and at an increasingly earlier age, they want to be treated immediately, preferably close to home, with the best available technology." "These viewpoints are seemingly irreconcilable," he concluded. "The real challenge is reconciling them, and this is only possible with capable leadership. If, however, everyone is left to their own devices, it's clear they'll pursue their own goals, and ultimately the result is what we're seeing: a National Health System in structural crisis, with few resources and demoralized staff who are leaving. This year, for the first time, voluntary resignations among doctors have exceeded retirements. This is truly dangerous."
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