Bad news for Health in Campania, in fact, for this month of October 2022 the definitive closure of the UOC Pain Therapy and Palliative Care of the Cardarelli Hospital in Naples. The department, inaugurated in 1977 headed by Dr. Vincenzo Montrone, was the first center for palliative care in Central and Southern Italy.
Currently in Italy there are more than 300 thousand terminally ill patients who need this type of treatment and in view of the growing number, a law was also approved a few years ago, law 38 which "It protects and guarantees the patient with an incurable disease or suffering from a chronic painful pathology, access to palliative care and pain therapy, with the aim of ensuring the need for health, equity in access to assistance throughout the national territory, the quality of care and its appropriateness with regard to specific needs", which many people are not aware of.
The words of Doctor Vincenzo Montrone
Interviewed by NapoliToday, Dr. Vincenzo Montrone provided a clear explanation on the difference between pain therapy and palliative care.
In particular, the pain therapy it is practiced by professionals and specialists and deals with acute chronic benign pain related to oncological diseases or not. Palliative care are aimed at "terminal" patients with a life expectancy of 3 - 6 months and who are treated in protected facilities known as hospice.
Unfortunately, Campania is the last region in Italy for the number of hospices, the last AGENAS census declared 14 structures and 1 pediatric. Of these, however, most are accredited private structures, and unfortunately even home palliative care is inefficient.
Therefore, the closure of this department at the Cardarelli in Naples turns out to be a defeat not only for the terminally ill, but for everyone.
