Monday, July 27, 2009

NATIONALIZATION OF HEALTHCARE STIMULATES TRAVEL

DAILY EXPRESS:

NHS QUEUES DRIVE PATIENTS ABROAD

FOUR out of 10 Britons going abroad for surgery do so to avoid NHS waiting lists at home, a survey revealed today.

This was the top reason for seeking treatment, including dentistry and eye laser surgery, while 30 per cent went overseas because it was cheaper.
IF NATIONALIZTION WAS GOOD, THEN PEOPLE WOULD STAY AT HOME.

IT ISN'T; THEY DON'T.

END OF STORY.

3 comments:

  1. Anonymous8:27 PM

    Actually, "Nationalization of Healthcare stimulates travel for both patient and physician!

    via: Italian news source "Corriere Della Sera it"

    Doctors Line Up For Jobs Abroad
    “Higher salaries, promotion on merit and better opportunities. That’s why we’re saying ‘Arrivederci, Italy’”

    BOLOGNA – It’s so hot in the street you’d think you were already in Dubai. But the air conditioning in the I Portici hotel lets you breathe – and dream – more easily. Discreet lighting, a smell of cleanness, shiny lifts, good signage and obliging reception staff are waiting for the 400 or so doctors, nurses and obstetricians vying for 100 hospital jobs in the United States, Canada and the Emirates. The hopefuls come from all over Italy: Rome, Genoa, Palermo, Belluno, Arezzo, Ascoli Piceno and Padua. But are they all Italians? Not quite all of them. There are a few foreigners and a fair number of immigrants to Italy now ready to move on for a better offer. “It’s globalisation affecting healthcare”, shrugs one doctor from Trentino. One hundred jobs up for grabs in Barbados, as well as London and Doha. Candidates who are not selected go on a special list and could be called if the need arises. In other words, there’s a second chance.

    INTERVIEW – The candidates all turned up with carefully polished CVs and a single aim: to get out of Italy. They’re not resentful but they are attracted by the salaries, the homes with swimming pools and above all by a new professional experience. Each files into the interview room and in ten minutes, tells the panel, specially flown out from the United Kingdom, about his or her life and ambitions. The session is a joint initiative involving Idea Lavoro, a leading personnel agency in the healthcare sector, and HCL International, a beacon enterprise in international professional medical placements. Successful candidates will receive permanent contracts and various benefits. “We’ve been interviewing for 16 years and we’ve seen a growth in demand. More than 1,600 Italians have moved abroad. And they’re unlikely to come back to Italy”, says Idea Lavoro’s Massimo Zivelli.

    THE HOPEFULS – Monica comes from a town in the south that she prefers not to name. She completed a doctorate at a town in the south she prefers not to name. Now, she’s decided to work in “UK”, as she calls it. She wants to become a cardiothoracic surgeon. But she feels we ought to know that: “In my case, there was no merit principle at all. Where I live, people are simply nominated for jobs in advance”. Everyone complains about jobs not being assigned on merit. A paediatrician from Padua and a doctor from Palermo say the same thing. Even a Jordan-born nurse with an Italian passport complains. One Palestinian doctor is less harsh: “I want to give it a go. I’m happy in Italy but you can always better yourself, can’t you?” One nurse from Rome, who prefers to remain anonymous, has turned up for the interview as if he is popping into the tobacconist’s for a Superenalotto ticket. “Children?” he enquires. “How could I afford any? Not on my salary of 1,400 euros a month”. Giulia is another nurse from Rome with clear ideas: “To leave is to die a little, but staying isn’t that great either, believe me. I’ve made up my mind. I want to make a new life for myself”. Never have so many people eager to get out of Italy gathered in just 300 square metres. Even the reception staff are sounding out the better-looking medics in the hope of a ticket to somewhere else so they too can say: “Arrivederci, Italy”.

    ReplyDelete
  2. So would you rather have private health care like the US have? I don't think its such a win, since the US are trying to reform it into something more like a hybrid of private & state health care system.

    Julie

    ReplyDelete