Galliate faces medical crisis as 1,700 patients lose family doctor

Approximately 1,700 residents in Galliate, Italy, will be left without a family doctor following the retirement of Dr. Raffaella Varolotti on August 31. Due to a lack of available replacements within the municipality, patients may be forced to seek medical assistance in neighboring towns, a situation that poses significant challenges for the elderly and those with limited mobility.

The shortage in Galliate reflects a broader crisis in the Piedmont region, which faces an estimated deficit of 685 general practitioners. Recent recruitment efforts have struggled to fill the gap; for a training course offering 300 positions, only 288 applications were received. Piedmont is noted as the only ordinary-statute region in Italy that failed to meet the number of available training slots.

Local political response has highlighted a tension between administrative procedures and municipal responsibility. Councilman Paolo Bressi, an ASL healthcare worker, noted that while the local health authority (ASL) must follow rigid regional and national regulations, the municipality should proactively work to make the local medical center more attractive to new doctors through incentives and better planning.