Italy: NHS facts and figures:
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
There are 1,117 public hospitals in Italy with some 301,668 beds, according to a recent healthcare feature in Il Sole-24 Ore. Just over 600 private and non-profit hospitals are also contracted to carry out services on behalf of the national health service. Some 8.2 million patients are treated annually in hospital at an average cost of Lit 5.8 million ($3,500) each, accounting for a total of nearly 80 million patient days. The ratio of practising doctors to inhabitants is 1:187. A total of 73,601 doctors work in the hospital sector, although there is still a surplus of qualified doctors in the country. National healthcare service spending totalled Lit 91,619,000 million in 1994, Lit 19,218,000 of which was spent on goods and services. Private healthcare spending amounted to Lit 33,476,000 million.