ROME (ITALPRESS) – The Ministry of Health, at the urging of Minister Orazio Schillaci, has already prepared an outline for reforming the Central Commission for Health Professions Practitioners (CEEPS), which is in charge of adjudicating appeals against disciplinary measures of the Orders, those regarding registration and cancellation from the Bars as well as election appeals.
The reform proposal, for the protection of citizens and the professionals themselves, provides for interventions to streamline lengthy procedures and make the handling and decision of the judgment more expeditious. It establishes that sanctions imposed by the Orders will be immediately enforceable, pending the Commission’s decision, unlike today whereby an appeal to the Commission suspends the effectiveness of the sanction, be it disbarment or suspension.
In this way, disbarred or suspended physicians would not be able to practice until the Commission’s ruling. It is also planned to establish two Sections-one for physicians and dentists, who account for more than half of the litigation, and the other for other health professions-that will deal with both pending and new appeals.
Throughout all these years, in the face of obvious difficulties in the functioning of CEEPS, no reorganization of the Commission has been contemplated, which this government is instead taking on. Regarding the backlog of pending appeals, it should be noted that the Commission in office during the four-year period 2016/2020, which expired in December 2020, left over 400 appeals to be processed. Until it was reconstituted in January 2021, the Commission could not meet, accumulating further backlog that, as of today, totals 896 pending appeals (of which more than 600 have accrued from 2017 to 2022) between electoral appeals, registration and deregistration from the Bars, and disciplinary measures, including suspensions or disbarments.
From the data provided by the Commission, there are 64 pending radiation appeals to date. For the sake of full disclosure, it should be noted that in the absence of the chairperson, the Commission cannot be operational, which contributes to the backlog: the chairperson, Elena Stanizzi, resigned on Jan. 30, 2023, and was replaced in June 2023 by Antonio Pasca appointed, as required by law, by the Council of State, who in turn resigned on Aug. 8, 2024, and was replaced by the current chairperson Valeria Vaccaro appointed in February 2025.
-Photo IPA Agency-.
(ITALPRESS).
