Heat, family doctors: "+ 40% visits to clinics for hypotension, burns and viruses"

Bartoletti (Fimmg): "At the beginning of July we are working at full capacity as in March, elderly people come to adjust their therapies but also young people with Covid and norovirus diarrhea"

Overwork for family doctors. "The situation in our clinics is scorching, from all points of view. With the heat wave, which has now been going on for 9 days, we are seeing a 40% increase in visits. And it's not just the elderly who need to review their therapy, but we are also seeing young people for hypotension, burns from weekends at the beach, viral diseases such as Covid and norovirus, the latter perhaps caught in a swimming pool". This is what Pier Luigi Bartoletti, deputy national secretary of the Fimmg (Italian Federation of Family Doctors), told Adnkronos Salute.

Bartoletti is most concerned about the over-65s: "They often have comorbidities and take various medications that can cause kidney problems. Despite this, they drink little, but this makes their kidneys work worse. They go to clinics to adjust their hypertension therapy, in fact they take diuretics". But with 7-8 degrees above the seasonal average "we see everything: young people who 'baked' in the sun over the weekend and arrive on Monday with burned skin, rather than with diarrhea caused by the norovirus perhaps caught in the pool because the virus can also resist temperatures of 60 degrees".

"We work as in the month of March. Although many have already gone on vacation, those who remain in the city have fever, viral diseases and present strong states of anxiety due to the heat", concludes the doctor.