Doctors are defending their autonomy in relation to the investigation by the Ravenna Prosecutor's Office into alleged false medical certificates issued to prevent the detention of undocumented foreign nationals in Centres for Repatriation (CPR): "the autonomy and independence of the medical profession must be defended to protect patients' health," Filippo Anelli, president of the National Federation of Medical Surgeons and Dentists' Orders, told ANSA. "Caution" is also needed, he added, "with regard to a delicate job, such as that of a doctor."
Without commenting on the specifics of the investigation, Anelli observed that the affair "reveals a difficult situation; in the CPRs there are people who arrived on dinghies and boats, who have witnessed the deaths of those close to them and who have experienced trauma in detention and collection centres in Libya, and who now find themselves facing the ordeal of being locked up again." Another "anomaly" in the affair, he continued, lies in the fact that "doctors are not assistants to security forces: they have a duty to treat everyone. A doctor never looks at who is in front of them except as a person, and as such respects their dignity. If they were to be criminals, there would be other means of intervention."
Without commenting on the specifics of the investigation, the president of the Medical Orders also observed that "if a doctor has written something false, this is a violation of the code of ethics and they will be sanctioned, but it is strange," he noted, "that anyone could doubt that doctors, outside of their work, might discuss the situation in repatriation centres." For Anelli, "beyond the specific facts, we should all be very cautious: health is one of those aspects that touches people in the most personal way when it comes to protection."
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