![]() ![]() Conforti frets that the same afflictions are at work. The regional system lacked protective gear like masks and gloves, so she bought her own.Īs the second wave gathers force, Dr. She struggled to visit patients stricken by the coronavirus. Areas on the front lines of the pandemic, like family medicine and public health, have been neglected, leaving people excessively reliant on hospitals for care.Īs the pandemic spread, she found herself working 12 hours a day, and still failing to keep up with the barrage of calls and emails. ![]() Over the previous quarter-century, substantial investment has flowed into lucrative specialties like cardiac surgery and oncology. The catastrophe in Italy’s most affluent region was in part a consequence of having entrusted much of the public health care system to private, profit-making companies while failing to coordinate their services. Yet it was overwhelmed by the first wave of the global pandemic, forcing doctors to ration ventilators and hospital beds, while having to decide who lived and who died. Lepora found herself pressed into service in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, one of the wealthiest places on earth.Īnchored by Milan, Italy’s financial and fashion capital, Lombardy boasts sophisticated industry and world-class medical facilities. ![]() As a physician for the international relief agency Doctors Without Borders, she was accustomed to caring for people in countries like Yemen and South Sudan, amid extreme poverty and war.īut early this year, as the novel coronavirus spread from Asia to Europe, Dr. Chiara Lepora had never imagined being deployed in her home country of Italy. ![]()
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