Covid, oncologist Pinto: ‘Good Schillaci on extending mask compliance in hospitals and RSA’

“I completely agree with what was announced by Minister of Health Schillaci regarding the obligation to wear masks in hospitals, health facilities and the RSA, which expires on December 31 and which will be renewed, at least until spring. We are living in a transitional phase to manage the double pandemic, Covid and influenza, and that is why we must Protecting the most vulnerable, especially cancer patients. Thus to Adnkronos Salute Carmine Pinto, President of the Federation of Italian Collaborative Oncology Groups, today on the sidelines of the press conference on cholangiocarcinoma held in the Chamber of Deputies after the budget committee approved the amendment to increase the screening fund for next-generation sequencing (Ngs).

“Maintaining preventive measures, in particular the use of masks – the oncologist emphasizes again – is essential at this stage to reduce the impact of infection in hospitals and between patients, without forgetting the health care staff. Today we have a big problem, as shifts are beginning to skip within oncology departments And hematology because doctors, nurses, assistants, and home technicians are affected by COVID or the flu. So this extension allows us to breathe even on an organizational level.”

According to Pinto, “All measures of access to hospitals and nursing homes must also be carefully evaluated, particularly in oncology and hematology departments: we must ensure that these environments become for all intents and purposes coronavirus- and influenza-free, which public health can lead to.” It does its job well, so the oncologist comments that “the extension announced by the minister has a double advantage: it protects patients and the medical and nursing staff who were already reduced to a minimum on the eve of the Christmas holidays due to the spread of several viruses at the same time.”