ITALY IMPORTS DOCTORS FROM CUBA, NURSES FROM PERU, ALBANIA..

ROME, JULY 31 /SRNA/ - Italy's healthcare system is increasingly relying on foreign medical workers due to staff shortages, with Cuban doctors and Indian nurses helping to fill vacancies, Italian media reported.

Italian regions have been actively recruiting doctors and nurses from abroad in recent years to address staffing shortages, according to the newspaper La Stampa.

Cuban doctors, invited under intergovernmental agreements, as well as nurses from India, Peru, Albania and several other countries, play the most important role in helping to maintain Italy's healthcare system.

"A new agreement was recently signed with New Delhi aimed at facilitating the arrival of Indian nurses and healthcare technicians in Italian hospitals," the newspaper reported, citing Italian Health Minister Orazio Schillaci.

It says that foreign healthcare workers are being assigned primarily to regions where shortages of general practitioners, anaesthetists, emergency medicine specialists and medical staff are particularly acute.

"Without their contribution, many hospitals and departments would no longer be able to function normally," the newspaper wrote.

However, certain difficulties remain in integrating foreign medical professionals, including language barriers and differences in professional training.

"The healthcare workforce crisis is becoming one of Italy's most serious social problems and requires long-term reforms, not just the recruitment of specialists from abroad," La Stampa said.