There is chaos, concern and rift between Italian GPs and pediatricians. In the next two months, in fact, they will have to carry out rapid antigenic swabs for the Coronavirus in their professional offices, according to the latest agreement signed with the Ministry of Health. At their own risk. “We said yes out of a sense of responsibility but we don’t want to be anyone’s scapegoat,” he explains Rinaldo Missaglia, national secretary of the family pediatricians union (Simpef), who, however, does not hide concern. He echoes him Paolo Biasci, president of the Italian Federation of pediatricians (Fimp): “We have accepted the requests of our country.” But the perplexities are many.
“What do we do with a tampon a day?”
Missaglia’s worries are first of all about the “numbers”: «We will have about one tampon a day. I have to choose who to do it and who not? ». His colleagues – says Rinaldo Missaglia – are especially afraid of the risk of contaminating professional offices: «If I have a positive patient, what do I do? Do I immediately close the office, sanitize it and postpone all the appointments for the following hours? Our studies could turn into a place of further spread of the virus ». “But what changes between today and tomorrow? As they sanitize today, they must sanitize tomorrow. The precautions are the same and, in any case, we must not swab symptomatic subjects », replies a Open Biasci, totally in favor of the agreement.
“We couldn’t hold back”
The rapid swabs, therefore, will be carried out to children and young people who have had contact with positives but who, when they are about to take the test, do not show symptoms. For example, those who went into quarantine after discovering the positivity of a classmate. No tests for Covid suspected individuals with symptoms. “We give great help to the prevention department with 50,000 extra tampons a day,” says Biasci. Departments that – he adds – “are drowning”. And “in any case, we could not withdraw from a request that comes from our country”, he continues. And, for those who are afraid of carrying out them in their own office, Missaglia proposes, as the Puglia Region intends to do, to make ad hoc places available to welcome patients to be subjected to the swab.
“I will not make tampons in my office, the politicians come and do them”
Pediatricians aside, family doctors are already on a war footing, as he says Roberto Carlo Rossi, president of the Milan Medical Association, who a Open he says: «I’m not going to swab in my study also because, I have already been told, they would throw me out of the building. I would not do them even for a thousand euros per pad (at present we are talking about 12 euros if done outside the studio, 18 within the studio, ed) because I risk my life and do not have adequate protective equipment. This is madness, stupid. Politicians come to do them under these conditions. We have already had too many deaths. And, if I have a patient who tested positive for swab in my office, what do I do? Do I close everything, do I sanitize my apartment but also the lift, the stairs or the balcony? But is it possible? It would become a “cinema” ».
“I risk the revolt of condominiums”
Rossi, in no uncertain terms, rejects the agreement and speaks of a “collective revolt”. “I have already been warned by the administrator of the building where my office is located because some patients, they say, went around without a mask or because they saw 2-3 people waiting to get a medical prescription. These are elderly people to whom I cannot email them. So, imagine if I start swabbing. I expect the revolt ». The agreement, it should be remembered, provides for mandatory performance. Rapid swabs should be performed for asymptomatic close contacts of positives, for suspected cases that the family doctor is required to visit and for those who, at the end of 10 days of isolation, have to undergo a swab.
Photo in the cover of the directory: EPA / IAN LANGSDON
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