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– Before we were celebrated as heroes, now we are seen as carriers, says the head of the intensive care unit of the Milan Polyclinic hospital, Giacomo Grasselli, to The Guardian.
– Now we are to blame for the strict infection control measures that take away people’s freedom and economy, continues the chief physician.
Health professionals are exposed to discrimination and aggression and are seen as carriers.
Aggression against health personnel
Graselli is behind a survey among health professionals in the Lombardy region. Among the 627 respondents, 25 percent of them had experienced exposure to aggression and discrimination.
Health professionals are treating a patient with covid-19 who arrived at the Cotugno Hospital in Naples on November 12. Many healthcare workers have quit due to harassment.
Photo: Filippo Monteforte / AFP
There are many forms of stigma. For example, it is quite common for parents to reject their children and play with them by health professionals.
There are examples of nurses and other health workers living on a block who are greeted with a note in the stairwell saying they should not enter because they may be carriers.
Others have been subjected to more aggressive behaviors. The head of the intensive care unit of the Milan Polyclinic talks about the doctors whose windshields were broken in their cars.
Outside the entrance there is a large mural that pays tribute to health personnel, it has been destroyed by vandals.
– A heavy mental duty
– Paradoxically, it is more difficult to work now than in March and April, says Grasselli..
The chief physician describes a harsh reality for healthcare workers who are now mobilizing for a new corona wave.
A heavy burden falls on the shoulders of healthcare workers at the start of a new wave of infections in Italy. The picture shows the intensive care doctors on duty at the San Filippo Neri Hospital in Rome on April 20.
Photo: Alberto Pizzoli / AFP
– We were already carrying a heavy psychological burden after what happened in March and April. Then we treated coronary patients who could not see their relatives, patients who could not breathe.
– Then we called family members and told them that their loved one is dead, before starting over.
Grasselli says that in some cases, survivors sue health workers.
– We try to treat the sick to recover, we need everyone’s support and cooperation to be able to overcome this terrible situation together, says Grasselli.
Many people miss that support now. They experience that people direct their aggression about the pandemic against health professionals.
Health professionals resign
This means that many nurses, doctors, and others in the health care system can no longer cope. Many retire or take early retirement.
The situation is so dire that if infection rates do not decrease, Italy will lack nurses and anesthesia doctors.
“We have more hospital beds and respirators, but no more healthcare workers,” the vice president of the Italian Medical Association, Giovanni Leoni, told The Guardian.
– And those who are at work have a heavier workload, says Leoni.
Many Italians are so frustrated with the new wave of infections that it goes beyond healthcare workers. They were acclaimed in March and April, now many are harassed and accused of being carriers. The picture is from the Policino di Tor Vergata hospital in Rome on November 12.
Photo: Andreas Solaro / AFP
Tuesday saw Italy the highest death toll from covid-19 for a day since April 3. 731 lost their lives on Tuesday.
Italy was the first country affected by the crown in Europe. 46,464 people have died from covid-19 in Italy.
