ROME (ITALPRESS) – ‘Person, care, dedication and solidarity are the pillars on which the Gemelli ecosystem is founded, to which the Polyclinic together with the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery give life: ‘an integrated system of ideal sharing and scientific expertiseà. In her inaugural speech at the Rome campus of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Rector Elena Beccalli proposed the ideal horizon that makes Gemelli ‘a point of reference for national health careà. An excellence also recognized in her greeting by Health Minister Orazio Schillaci, according to whom ‘this institution since its birth has worked for more efficient and more equitable health care. In his speech, the rector outlined the ‘difficult and articulated picture’ of Italian healthcare. “Accessible health care,” he said, “is a form of ‘right of citizenship,’ a principle that is implemented in the National Health Service established in 1978 by one of our own graduates, Tina Anselmi, the first woman to hold the post of Minister of Health of the Italian Republicà. But today ‘the Italian health system is at a crossroads. Without the right interventions, the resulting risk is an increase in the already deep divisions present in our society’. At this juncture, ‘the Catholic University and the Policlinico make themselves available to contribute to a technical table of analysis, plural and with many voices, that will allow the formulation of concrete proposals on possible lines of reform of the current system. Policlinico Gemelli can also accentuate its efforts to experiment with new therapies and new forms of organizing health services. Integration between clinical facilities and research should be exploited to seek solutions to offer more effective services at sustainable costs. It will be crucial to have an increasingly holistic view of each patient’s problems. Fragmentation of care is costly, as well as detrimental to its successè. ‘A very high proclamation, a source of inspiration for all of us,’ commented Lazio Region President Francesco Rocca in his greeting, referring to Professor Elena Beccalli’s inaugural address. ‘The Lazio Region is proud of this University and of the excellence of Policlinico Gemelli. I welcome the invitation of the rector to rethink our health care models, to look with new eyes at the human person and his needs by having an openness to the world, to the most fragile. All together, each for his or her part, we must continue to make our Regional Health Service more modern, just and efficient. To the academic body, the students and all the staff at Cattolica, I wish a year full of satisfaction and accomplishments. Health Minister Orazio Schillaci recalled the measures in the budget law to counter the difficulty in recruiting staff especially for some medical branches of public health and make it more attractive to young people. ‘I’m thinking of the increase, from the academic year 2025/2026, of 5 percent of the fixed part of the salary for all specializations and 50 percent of the variable part for the specializations that are less attractive today. But also to the possibility, for physicians with experience in emergency-urgency services, to participate in competitions for recruitment in the SSN’. Dean of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Antonio Gasbarrini in his speech emphasized that ‘a crucial aspect of our work lies in the constant collaboration with health institutions, especially with the Lazio Region, our main client in public health, and with the Ministry of Health, which sets the rules and creates the opportunities to ensure a fair and accessible national public health care. The Dean of Medicine identified an original area in which to ensure faculty engagement in support of regional and ministerial policies. ‘In addition to our role in elective pathologies, in fact, we are developing with both institutions, regional and national, policies at the service of the crucial emergency/urgency network, that network that represents the backbone of health policiesè, ‘fundamental for saving lives, reducing complications and guaranteeing the integrated care of the patient, from the first intervention to rehabilitationè. Of health care combined with the pillar of solidarity, the rector spoke at the close of his speech, regarding the contribution of the Rome office to the Africa Plan of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart. ‘The intent is to place the African continent at the heart of health, welfare, educational, research and third mission projects. In a spirit of reciprocity with Africa, the Athenaeum intends to become an educational hub with a triple purpose: to train doctors in Africa, to offer second-generation African youth study opportunities, and to integrate our students’ volunteer experiences into their academic paths. To this end, agreements and alliances will be forged with universities and entities operating there,” Professor Beccalli continued, “from Catholic ones to internationally recognized ones such as UNESCO and FAO and, hopefully, in close connection with initiatives such as the Mattei Plan for Africa. From this point of view, the Roman campus of the Catholic University can make a decisive contribution, because its activities already make visible the link between education, growth and solidarity. We have in the Athenaeum a total of 123 active projects in 40 countries, including 14 with the Faculty of Medicine alone. The two prologues and the concluding testimony were dedicated to the Africa theme. ‘I am not an academic, I certainly cannot give ‘lectures’, I can try to share what I live in the field every day, as a doctor, as a priest and as the director of Doctors with Africa Cuamm, an organization that for 75 years has been engaged in Africa, in the poorest countries, to take care of the health of the most fragile,’ began director Don Dante Carraro. ‘Our name encapsulates the style that guides our intervention: not “for” but “with” Africa. We walk alongside local populations, within the health system trying to be its leaven, intervening in partnership with local authorities and starting from real needs. We do not drop interventions from above, but build together responses that can be sustainable and can guarantee future. We care, above all, about mothers and children, fragile among the fragile, especially at the moment of childbirth and in the first months of life. Finally, we believe that a fundamental lever of change is investment in education, of young Italians and also Africans, which is why we collaborate with 39 Italian universities and many research partners around the world, so that we can give solidity to our intervention, because we are convinced that a medicine for the poor, should not be a medicine poverty. Professor Carlo Torti, professor of Infectious Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, speaking on Global Infectious Diseases: shared challenges between industrialized countries and Africa in the fight for universal health, highlighted a ‘worrying paradox: while, for the most part, deaths from infectious diseases occur in the poorest areas, in industrialized countries we are seeing an increase in cases of vaccination-preventable diseases caused by inadequate vaccination coverageè. And he concluded that ‘science must evolve from a logic of publication (“publish or perish”) to a focus on innovation (“innovate or perish”), recognizing that we live in an interconnected world and that our actions must reflect a collective responsibility to combat global diseases, such as infectious diseases, for the benefit of universal health. Francesca Schiavello, a young specialist in Internal Medicine, who recounted her experience volunteering with Cuamm in Tanzania, said that ‘working in Africa does not at all mean practicing “second-hand” medicine. Sure, ‘the means available are very limited. ‘ But, working in a low-resource setting is a great school of life for us as doctors. In a context where there is a lack of laboratory tests, X-rays, CT scans, one is necessarily pushed to compensate with the eyes, with the hands, with the ears, with listening, with semeiotics. A lesson in life but also in health care with a human face. The inauguration ceremony was preceded by Holy Mass in the central church of the campus, presided over by Cardinal Baldassare Reina, Vicar of His Holiness for the Diocese of Rome, and concelebrated by Bishop Claudio Giuliodori, general ecclesiastical assistant of the Athenaeum. ‘The Catholic University before being a place is a way of being,” the cardinal said. “A style that is based on four essential elements: the strength of relationships; the ability to grasp the essential with the search for truth; attention to the person; and the commitment to curb evil.”(ITALPRESS).
Photo: xc3
