THE NEWZ Vol.14 English Ver.
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In Italy, as in the UK, medical care is free. In Italy, medical care is free for everyone, not only Italians who have a passport, but also those who work and pay taxes in Italy in an official procedure, as well as their family members. Even if hospitalised, meals and hospitalisation are free. This background is likely to be related to the Catholic Church policy, which follows the philosophy that "the sick and injured must be helped," and thus, medical care is free of charge. In addition, Italy has a system of home doctors, or so-called family doctors. When you are sick or injured in Italy, you should first see your registered family doctor. If further treatment or consultation is required, a prescription or letter of referral will be written and you will be taken to a specialist. However, even though medical care is free, there are various problems. The first is that it is often not possible to see a doctor on the same day. A home doctor can be assigned as one's personal physician, however, since a doctor is responsible for up to 1,500 citizens, same-day appointments are almost impossible! As one doctor can see only about 10-12 patients in a day (a day for doctors is usually only half a day). This brought about the situation that even if you have a cold and are not feeling well, you may not be able to see a doctor on the very day. Shockingly, such is the case with emergency hospitals as it is common to wait 4 to 5 hours. Secondly, there seems to be a six-month waiting list for tests as well. When tests or specialised diagnoses are needed, home doctors generally refer patients to specialists or hospitals. However, regarding appointments for testing, public health care facilities often have waiting lists and difficulties in scheduling appointments. Therefore, for urgent tests, one option is to use private hospitals, which cost relatively high.For these reasons, there are not many people in hospitals in Italy which is similar to the UK. In Italy, even if you have a high fever from the flu, most people will just stay home and sleep. For Italians, hospitals seem to be the place to go when they have no other choice but to stay home and sleep.introduce an efficient appointment system for urgent examinations and consultations. Furthermore, while the public healthcare system is being strengthened to protect the public's health, pricing and transparency of private medical institutions also need to be examined.About the medical situation and system in ItalyI have never actually lived in Italy, but I was curious about the Italian medical system and asked my Italian friends about it and did some research on the medical system.ConclusionIn contrast to Japan, Italy and the U.K. do not charge for medical care, which is an attractive feature. However, the system has a major drawback, which disables people to access medical services when they really need it. Even though people in Japan are likely to get prompt medical care, there is still a need to shorten waiting times and 8

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