Health professionals are needed across Italy: from north to south, there is a shortage of physicians, both family and hospital, as well as nurses and pediatricians, particularly in the periphery and ultraperipheral portions of interior areas, where so-called health desertification, i.e. territory where people have difficulties getting treatment, is visible. This is the concern raised by a report published by the non-profit group CITTADINANZATTIVA. The factors include, for instance, lengthy wait periods, a scarcity of medical workers, and extensive distances from the place of care delivery. And the issue risks not being addressed by the NRRP funds: just 16-17% of Community Homes and Hospitals will be developed in these locations. The overcrowding in the offices of general practitioners and pediatricians is most noticeable in the northern part of the nation. On the other hand, the lack of hospital gynecologists affects not only Caltanissetta, where there is one hospital gynecologists for every 40,565 women, but also Macerata, Viterbo, La Spezia, and three provinces of Calabria (Reggio Calabria, Vibo Valentia and Cosenza). CITTADINANZATTIVA conducted an analysis using official data provided by the Ministry of Health for 2020 regarding the following health figures for each Italian province: pediatricians of free choice, general practitioners, gynecologists, cardiologists, and pharmacists (the latter three hospitalists).
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