“Shameful phrases.” Specializing doctors do not find other adjectives to define the words with which Guido Bertolaso severely attacked them, guilty, according to the coordinator of the anti vaccination plan Covid of Lombardy, for having refused to serve the country by vaccinating on a voluntary basis. “There is a law that obliges them for a month,” said Bertolaso at the beginning of a very hard speech, which ended with the frontal attack on young colleagues. “If the next doctors are these, what future can this country have?”.
The former head of Civil Protection presented himself at the conference with a letter sent by the major trade associations on the subject of the obligation of unpaid service. The associative reality of the Young Doctors for Italy, who now says she is shocked and embittered by the derogatory words arrived from Bertolaso. Dr. Antonio Cucinella in particular is the president of GMI and does not spare himself in commenting on the latest events. “Doctor Bertolaso asks what will happen to this country with young doctors like us? The questions we ask ourselves, on the other hand, are exactly the opposite: what will happen to us with a ruling class like the one it represents? “
Doctor, let’s start from the beginning. The key point of conflict is the financial law which would oblige you to provide free vaccination service. Also reiterated in the last few hours by Bertolaso himself: “If they don’t want to do it voluntarily, there is a law that obliges them.” Your position, however, would appear to be another
“On February 22 we participated in a meeting with the Ministry of Health in which we were assured that an information note will be sent to the CRUI shortly, Conference of rectors of Italian universities, which states that the law does not constitute an obligation for trainees to vaccinate. We are waiting. Article 459 of the budget law then defines the participation of trainees in the administration of anti Covid vaccines as a training activity in all respects. Here is the other great mockery that Bertolaso once again wanted to deny ».
Why made fun of? Bertolaso says it is «a noble and highly uplifting practice». He accuses you of being young doctors who despise the mission they have chosen
“Good excuse. The truth is that non-paying interns are now coveted by those who have not been able to organize an effective vaccination campaign. It is tempting to have all these doctors free of charge. The history of training is a shameful exploitation, just as it was convenient for Bertolaso to exploit the words of the letter sent in the public square, which if it were up to us we would sign again tomorrow ».
Regarding the letter, the part of the letter that just did not go down to the former head of Civil Protection was the one where we read that “passing off the vaccination activity as an educational activity appears disparaging”. He said he was saddened.
«The truth can hurt but we reiterate it. Vaccination prophylaxis is in effect part of work activities. The training activities are included in numerous law decrees in relation to the specific types of specialization chosen and vaccination does not appear among these ”.
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Are there other reasons why vaccination cannot be an educational activity?
“It does not happen with tutoring, which is necessary for specialization activities. It does not take place outside the structures used. And then again we ask ourselves what a training activity in vaccination prophylaxis is for a cardiologist. There are law decrees that define what is educational and what is not: participation in vaccination can be educational for pediatricians, for example, but on exclusively pediatric patients. It goes without saying that the reason for the lack of pay does not hold up.
The question is why after a year of supporting the health service system, in which we had to divide ourselves between study activities and the replacement of colleagues engaged in the fight against the virus, we must be penalized. There are categories of doctors who are paid regularly to administer a serum, this suggests that vaccination is a full-fledged working medical act.
And what do you answer about the “noble” value of the service to be given to the country?
I answer with another question: was Bertolaso chosen free of charge to organize the Lombard vaccination campaign? We have never said that vaccinating is disparaging or not noble. He has put words in our mouth that we have never said and perhaps this is the real not very noble thing. To have us treated like doctors who have turned their backs on their oath is ridiculous. Just as it begins to be ridiculous to believe that participation in a vaccination campaign is formalizing for all categories of specialization.
This is just a search for zero-cost labor. Not to mention the failure of founding a vaccination strategy, perhaps the greatest in history, on volunteers. And if the policy is precisely that of non-remuneration, why not apply it to other categories of doctors as well? Perhaps because it is easy to attack the most defenseless category ».
What do you expect after the hard battle?
«The contractualization. True awareness on the part of the government of the need to respect the medical profession in all its categories ”.
