The crisis running over the European committee provoking the resignation of its members has hurt seriously the image and the moralism of the European Parliament. The Romano Prodi's nomination to lead the EU, has upset again the equilibrium inside the government majority and it has prevailed, even in a very weak way, the spirit of the Italian nationalism. At the same time there's no peace among the olives, it has burst the Kossovo crisis highlighting all the contradictions existing in the government coalition. Every day it rises a voice of protest for the decisions taken by the government itself and there's a menace to retire some ministers. It seems to presence the last act of the “Trovatore”: “Let's leave... “. For who has never seen the "Trovatore" these words are repeated endlessly, in all tonalities, with the only result the protagonists keep standing on scene for almost all the act. In the health field it has got to the “deductions for industries, pharmacies, and grocers “. According to the latest data the pharmaceutical expenditure recorded by the National Health Service in 1998 has reached a thousand billion. The Chamber of deputies' social affairs committee while submitting at the presence of the Health under-secretary Antonino Mangiacavallo has examined and discussed Mr. Carlesi's resolution: “About Psychiatric Hospitals “. Here it is the text of the debate: Nicola Carlesi (AN) illustrates the resolution at the agenda after the introduction at the committee of the results of the activity carried out by the permanent board for the monitoring of the psychiatric hospitals process of closure and requires the government to take certain initiatives. The works carried out by the permanent board has indeed highlighted not only delays in the mentioned process, but also false closures or mere administrative closures. He intends also to denounce the fact that the data collected during works do not coincide with those sent by regions to government. So, even reserving analysing them more in details, he deems the government must verify attentively the data given by regions and not to limit itself to take them in note. The matter at point, that is the closure of the psychiatric hospitals, furthermore intersects that of the lack of alternative structures. It seems necessary to invest in the psychiatric field, in personnel and structures, and find apt resources, being not enough those foreseen, coming from the sale of the old structures. After underlining the problem of the judicial psychiatric hospitals, that in certain realities are in fact the only places where there's psychiatric assistance, carrying out nevertheless the same functions of the old mental hospitals, he points out that the private sector is strongly introducing in this situation where the public sector fails. There's nevertheless the risk to reintroduce the old mental hospital reality, even if in smaller structures, without any linkage to other territorial social-health structures. Finally it underlines the RSA problems where sometimes no-psychiatric patients are shut up, having no assistance in other structures. So he requires the government for an engagement for a real monitoring, and not only a bureaucratic-administrative one, of the divestment iter, and asks for a fast introduction of the project - target concerning the mental health safeguard, being also opportune a debate about the earlier data presented by the government. Finally he deems that the government must apply for the substitutive powers, allowed by law, nominating commissioners ad acta in case of no-fulfilment by the regions. The under-secretary Antonino Mangiacavallo after having appraising the work done by the permanent board for the psychiatric hospitals closure iter and by the committee, points out that the Ministry of Health, by the means of the prevention department, has always provided for the monitoring of the data related to the overcome of the ex psychiatric hospitals, communicating to Parliament the data, updated to March 31st 1998, unfortunately uncompleted due to the delay some regions have communicated the data to the Ministry. He observes that all regions have documented, at least formally, the develop of the closure process in a analytical way, even if planting the problem, taken into account also by the project-target, of carrying out verifications about quality of interventions and places. From the supplied data the overcoming process of the ex psychiatric hospitals is definitively finished in Emilia Romagma, Lazio and Sardinia; while in other regions they will end in the next future. The reasons for the delay are generally individuated in the troubled agreement with municipalities and the social assistance services of many health firms and in financing troubles, mainly related to problems in selling the old structures. Furthermore it must be noticed that the Minister of Health is able to supply a summary of the ex psychiatric hospitals overcoming process updated to September 31st 1998, referring to a following report for the ex psychiatric hospitals operating within national health service. The Ministry of Health has already elaborated a project-target for the years 1998-2000, by now submitted to the Council of Ministers, individuating the health targets and the priority interventions to be linked to the activity of the services in the reference territory and settling the age of development services, to put in act global strategies for the mental health over all the phases of the vital cycle of persons. Concerning the substitutive powers, he points out that the law 449, 1997, allows to exercise this kind of powers. Nevertheless it is necessary that the Minister of Health acquires previously the data concerning the realisation of the law n. 180, 1978, availing of the Mental Health National Observatory and of the Higher Health Institute. After acquiring such data the Minister of Health may determine the amounts of founds to allocate for each region and eventually to propose the Council of Ministers the activation of the substitutive powers nominating a regional commissioner ad acta. Maura Cossutta (communist) deems it is not enough the effort of the government that has simply ratified bureaucratically the data supplied by regions. After reminding the intensive parliamentary action carried out by permanent board for the ex psychiatric hospitals closure process monitoring and by the Parliament by the means of the norms introduced in the last financial manoeuvres, she notices not only the delay and the incompleteness with which the government has transmitted data, having not taken into account those acquired by the permanent board, but also the inadequacy of the project-target about the safeguard of mental health, that in fact seems to abdicate all possibilities to govern the closure process. She's also thwarted by the fact that the ex psychiatric hospitals personnel topic has not been faced by the bill C. 4932 about health personnel. Fabio Di Capua (mix group-Italy of values) deems that the closure process of the ex psychiatric hospitals is a few edificant page of our country's history. Furthermore he deems that is to prefer the substitutive intervention of the Government over the defaulting regions rather than activating financial penalizations. Finally after having pointed out that the psychiatric patient keeps on being an irritating and politically unproductive patient, he shares the interventions of the deputies Carlesi and Cossutta and pre-announces his favourable vote to the Carlesi 's resolution 7-00555.

 

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