by InTrieste
The regional government of Friuli Venezia Giulia has approved emergency legislation allowing retired doctors to continue working through the end of the year, seeking to prevent staff shortages in the public health system while Italy’s national government revisits contested retirement rules.
The bill, adopted by the regional executive and expected to be debated in the regional council on February 2, would authorize public health authorities to contract physicians who have already retired in order to maintain essential levels of care. The measure follows the failure to include, in the national government’s “milleproroghe” decree, a provision that would have postponed a reduction in the mandatory retirement age for doctors from 72 to 70.
Without that delay, health systems across Italy face the abrupt loss of senior physicians. In Friuli Venezia Giulia, the impact has been most visible in community health services. The regional health authority for central Friuli had been employing 13 retired doctors in clinics serving thousands of residents who do not have a family physician.
Riccardo Riccardi, the regional councillor for health, described the legislation as a temporary response to an exceptional situation, intended to bridge the gap until national lawmakers act. The government in Rome, through Minister for Parliamentary Relations Luca Ciriani, has said it plans to reintroduce the retirement-age provision during parliamentary debate on the conversion of the milleproroghe decree into law. Regional officials have also called for measures to reduce the tax and pension penalties faced by retired doctors who return to work.
In a separate decision, the regional executive approved an additional €23.5 million to complete the third and fourth phases of the expansion of Udine’s main hospital, citing higher construction costs. The funding will support upgrades to the emergency department, the addition of new operating rooms, and changes to access roads and internal traffic flow.
