The National Federation of Midwives applauds Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s choice to renew his confidence in health minister Roberto Speranza: “now is the time to relaunch the entire obstetric category”.
«The confirmation of the minister Roberto Speranza at the helm of the health department in the new government led by the new Prime Minister prof. Mario Draghi, for which a vote of confidence in Parliament is awaited, is excellent news in the name of the continuity of what has already been done up to now. A recognition that lays the foundations for a fruitful continuation of the dialogue already underway on the next objectives that the Dicastery must achieve for the preparation of the new pact for health. On behalf of the Italian midwives, the FNOPO and the 65 territorial Orders express their best wishes to the honorable Speranza, with the request for greater concrete attention to the promotion and protection of women’s health “, say the leaders of the National Federation of the Orders of the Obstetric Profession (FNOPO).
«The time has come to do, without hesitation. The situation in our country, aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic, can no longer wait and needs more than ever serious, concrete and wide-ranging structural interventions that finally see the protection and concrete implementation of the National Health Service at the center public, the only one able to fully implement the constitutional principle sanctioned by art. 32 of the Constitution. Having obtained the necessary confidence for full operation, the new Government will have to deal with the demands of the health sector, finally focusing on women’s health and on the implementation of measures that counteract the serious phenomenon of birth rate – say the members of the FNOPO Central Committee -. In 2019, women represented 51.3% of the total Italian population resident and surveyed as at 31 December 2019 (for a total of 59,641,488), or 30,591,392 in numbers, actually exceeding men by 1,541,296 units ( data source Istat The permanent census of the population and housing. First dissemination of the final data 2018 and 2019).
A female presence that becomes decidedly even higher if we look at the elderly population and which, again Istat data in hand, reaches 60% of a total of 7,058,755 elderly people over 75 years old surveyed. Yet, at the moment of decisions in the health field, it operates as if the female population of fertile and postmenopausal age did not exist – underline the national representatives of the obstetric profession -. Even the alarms raised on chronic denatality, always photographed by the National Institute of Statistics, or by the Pontiff in the last homily in St. Peter’s, are not enough to enforce policies to support motherhood and paternity. FNOPO constantly asks for attention to these issues, more recently, in chronological order, during the Marathon for the Health Pact and the General States of the Economy. But still, unfortunately, nothing has to be done.
With the formation of the new Government, we take the opportunity to ask more forcefully to make decisive choices for our country, investing substantial resources from the Recovery Fund – for example – in new organizational models that see midwives, specialized and dedicated professionals as protagonists. women’s health, in all care settings dedicated to women of all ages. In fact, these models guarantee appropriate, quality, specialized health care to isorisorse with safe health outcomes. For example, they are the midwifery run model for autonomous assistance by midwives in low-risk pregnancies (BRO), with specifically trained and prepared support staff; the family and community midwife throughout the national territory that finally allows midwives to be extensively on the territory, covering the void that has been created after decades of hospital-centered vision of care, and then again giving impetus to the research of gender medicine . A non-titanic work for which there is already a reference legislation (for example the State-Region Agreement 2010 and the Ministerial Lines of 2017 for the BRO).
Furthermore, to extend models already active in various regional health structures, to strengthen family counseling for the promotion and protection of adolescent health and to take care of postmenopausal women. Without this vision, the country is destined for an inexorable collapse since it will not be possible to guarantee generational change or a welfare in support of all.
Finally, a wish for a good job goes to the new head of the University, Maria Cristina Messa, former rector of the Milano Bicocca University. The hope – conclude the FNOPO leaders – is that we can also establish a fruitful dialogue with her for the revision of the training course of the midwife / or to adapt its duration and content to the new Italian and European legislative dictates “.
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