“After my political experience I will go to work with Zangrillo”

Published on: 10/26/2020 8:00 AM

“On March 25, 2023, when all this is over, you will find me at San Raffaele in Milan, where I won a 2016 competition.” Thus, regarding Libero, the Vice Minister of Health Pierpaolo Sileri speaks of his return, once his political experience is over, to the activity of doctor in the hospital where Zangrillo also works. Which he defends against the criticism the anesthetist has received “from those who do not understand. I had Covid and when I was sick I myself told many that if something went wrong, San Raffaele would be the hospitalization home. Zangrillo used an unhappy expression but many of those inside understood perfectly what he meant: that the virus was no longer reaching intensive care. Now yes, the virus is circulating, it is likely that more people go to the ICU. But there are differences. During the first wave, people died at home and the doctor arrived two days after death. Now this is no longer the case ”.

“Scientists – continues Sileri – have different personal points of view but also heated rivalries. Zangrillo’s words were taken advantage of. It seems to me that many of my colleagues in white coats sometimes use television for personal purposes and challenges. I go to the San Raffaele in Milan because it is excellence in Italy ”.

Regarding the way in which the government is facing this wave of the epidemic, “I am going to expand the table of the Scientific Technical Committee and make its logic and methods of operation more transparent. Transparency strikes me as a must these days: fundamental decisions for the entire country cannot be entrusted to government-appointed consultants. There are still many places in intensive care and the growth of hospitalized patients is not exponential. The number of positives is very high but most of them are not sick: we must distinguish and not create unnecessary terrorism. We are paralyzing a country that hopes to pass saliva tests. Inconceivable”.

“The first thing to do – suggests the deputy minister – is to increase the diagnostic capacity. We divide the population into three groups: low, medium and high risk. We use the rapid antigen test for those who are low and medium risk and we only clean the third band; in this way we were able to map 400 thousand people a day and we did not waste swabs for subjects who, since they are not close contacts, are not at high risk. It is absurd what we are witnessing, with thousands of people breaking into the emergency room for symptoms similar to those of Covid, or endless lines to get a swab. Having a simpler diagnostic offer than the swab and usable by general practitioners, in pharmacies or in the private sector and, why not, also in dental practices would help the system as a whole ”.

“We do too many swabs to the wrong people – says Sileri -. If I test positive, you can clean my assistants, but not the whole floor. For the others, a rapid test or salivary antigen is enough, it costs a fifth and you have the results in one hour instead of five days. With Covid it is necessary to act as with all other pathologies. In the colon cancer screening, the examination of hidden feces is considered and only if it gives a positive result is the colonoscopy proceeded “The vaccine will not be fast. It takes months to produce it, like the flu. And then we still don’t know how much it really protects and what its side effects are. I think the drug will arrive before the prophylaxis. We are already applying a lot of therapies.” I trust above all in that of monoclonal antibodies or in the use of hyperimmune preparations obtained from the serum of the cured ”.