Naples' medical crisis: 150 people without a family doctor, emergency rooms collapsing.

Naples – A health emergency is underway in the Naples metropolitan area, where approximately 150 residents are currently without a general practitioner (GP). The Order of Surgeons and Dentists of Naples and the Province is sounding the alarm, denouncing the collapse of emergency rooms and an unsustainable crisis in community healthcare.

The situation, already tense due to the severe outbreak of influenza-related pneumonia, has escalated due to accumulated delays in filling "shortages," or vacant family doctor positions. The Order explains that the assignments are only being finalized in recent weeks.

"For weeks, we've been seeing emergency rooms overwhelmed, a direct consequence of the flu outbreak, and at the same time, we're experiencing a shortage of general practitioners in the area," said the Order's president, Bruno Zuccarelli. "It's clear that in this situation, many patients, even those with conditions that can be managed locally, are forced to turn to hospitals."

According to the regulations, doctors who receive the new assignments will be able to begin their careers within three months. In the meantime, the burden falls entirely on professionals already in practice. "General practice," Zuccarelli adds, "is trying, quietly and with a great sense of responsibility, to withstand the impact of this wave of requests."

The Order's appeal is an urgent call to institutions to resolve the situation: "It is essential that the relevant offices complete the assignment of shortages as soon as possible, so that new colleagues can serve citizens and strengthen the ranks of a territorial network essential to the proper functioning of the healthcare system." Otherwise, the risk is that the entire system of first aid and continuity of care will collapse under the weight of demand.