Between March 14st and April XNUMXth, the number of places in intensive care in Italian hospitals increased by 65%. The data is contained in a note from the Bank of Italy on "progress in strengthening the production capacity of the Italian health system in response to the Covid-19 epidemic".
From the analysis – signed by Luciana Aimone Gigio, Luca Citino, Domenico Depalo, Maura Francese and Andrea Petrella – it emerges that, before the coronavirus emergency, the Italian Health Service offered around 5.300 beds in intensive care. Over the course of a month and a half, approximately 3.360 seats were added (+65%) and it was planned a further increase of nearly 2.400 beds (+30% compared to the current budget). If the project is completed, the overall capacity of Italian intensive care units will eventually be more than doubled compared to the pre-crisis period.
Growth is significant in all regions - explains Bankitalia - but its geographical distribution, of course, is not homogeneous, both due to the differences in the initial endowments of beds and due to the different severity of the health crisis in the various territories.
Before the coronavirus, intensive care beds in Italy were on average from 7 to 10 per 100 thousand inhabitants. The region that had the most was the Liguria (12 beds per 100.000 inhabitants), while at the bottom of the ranking, somewhat surprisingly, was the Trentino Alto Adige (6,7)
Due to the pandemic and the measures taken by the Government and the Regions, the imbalance has increased geographically. In many areas of the Centre-North the intensive care beds have already doubled, while in Trentino-Alto Adige they have almost tripled (to 17,6).
Result: today the region with the highest number of ICU beds isEmilia Romagna (21,6), followed by Toscana e Lazio (19,4 and 18). They do worse Lombardia e Veneto, the epicenters of the epidemic in Italy, where intensive care beds are on average 16,5 per 100 inhabitants.
Al South, the increase was more limited, also due to the lower spread of the disease. However, "the plans for further expansion indicate that the regions are still strengthening their production capacity in case this becomes necessary - reads the note from Via Nazionale - although on the basis of data regularly released by the Civil Protection in recent weeks there is a decrease in intensive care admissions. In any case, even considering the plans for further expansion, the incidence of intensive care beds would remain significantly more limited in the southern regions".
