Strikes and a healthcare system on its knees: Italy’s start to 2024

“Our profession is not given any value any longer.” So read a joint statement from Italy’s healthcare unions in December 2023.Italy ended 2023 and began 2024 in poor health, following a 24 hour national strike on 5 December1 and plans for another early this year. Tensions are high among its healthcare professionals following disappointment at a newly approved financial bill that did little to tackle concerns about a public healthcare system in dire straits.“The whole healthcare system is close to collapse,” says Pierino di Silverio, president of Anaao Assomed, Italy’s biggest trade union for doctors. According to the union, Italy needs 15 000 doctors and 65 000 nurses. Long waiting lists on top of pandemic burnout have seen many staff leave national hospitals for the private sector or to work abroad.Overcrowded emergency departments, a shortage of local GPs and paediatricians, and entrenched inequality between richer and poorer regions has further…
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