The maneuver brings with it important innovations for those who exercise health professions. Paragraph 283 bis of the Budget law sweeps away the law approved by the previous executive and establishes an exemption for registration for those who work "without qualifications". The decision, commissioned by the 5 Star Movement, has sparked numerous controversies from trade associations who speak of "total absurdity".
HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONS: WHAT THE AMENDMENT PROVIDES
There are many who speak, after the amendment to the Maneuver approved on Saturday by the Senate, of a real amnesty in favor of those who practice the profession illegally.
The amendment establishes that those who have carried out a healthcare profession for at least 36 months in the last 10 years, even if not on a continuous basis, can continue to practice by registering by 31 December 2019 in a special exhaustive list, which the Ministry of Salute will constitute within 60 days through a special decree, instituted in the Orders of medical radiology health technicians and of the technical health professions, rehabilitation and prevention.
The law also establishes that enrollment in the special register "will not entail an automatic right to a different contractual or salary classification, vertical progression or recognition of higher duties".
In fact, paragraph 283 reads:
"without prejudice to the possibility of making use of the procedures for the recognition of the equivalence of the qualifications of the previous system to the degrees of the health professions referred to in the law of 1 February 2006 number 43, those who carry out or have carried out a professional activity as an employee or autonomous, for a minimum period of 36 months, even non-continuous, in the last 10 years they can continue to carry out the professional activities envisaged by the profile of the reference healthcare profession, provided that they register, by 31 December 2019, in the special lists established at the orders of medical radiology health technicians and of the technical health professions of rehabilitation and prevention ".
HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONS: THE PREVIOUS RULES
The purpose of this amendment is to correct the provisions of the law approved by the previous government which established the establishment of 17 new professional orders in the health field, to which every operator would have to register in order to practice the profession.
The problem is that many workers in the sector, lacking a degree, they could not enroll in these orders. With the provision desired by the 5 Stars, however, these same workers will join the special list.
THE HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONS CONCERNED
The various professions affected include, among others:
- nurses,
- obstetricians,
- health-technicians,
- speech therapists,
- physiotherapists.
THE PROTESTS
“We read the news of the amnesty with serious concern. There is the risk of creating a dangerous breach in a system that protects and guarantees above all the public health of citizens. System that also represents a security for other health professions. Belonging to a register is not a simple enrollment, but means having to demonstrate to our national system, and therefore to the whole community, that you possess a series of requirements: a basic and specialization training course in the health sector, that you have acquired skills and , to have passed exams and tests”. This is the note from the National Federation of Orders of the Midwifery Profession which represents over 22.000 members in Italy.
On Facebook however, the Italian Association of Physiotherapists writes:
The Ministry of Health defends itself: "These are tens of thousands of people who, following the approval of Law 3 of 2018, although they have been operating in the health sector for several years, are not in a position to enroll in a professional register as prescribed the new legislation. We speak mainly of massage physiotherapists and professional educators, but also of other more limited categories. Among these, some did not participate in the procedures called, at the time, by the same Regions for the equivalence of university qualifications as the need for it was not envisaged by the regulatory framework of the time; others were trained through courses organized by the Regions which cannot be recognized as valid for enrollment in the registers”.
