Deserted by care: the elderly left behind in Italy and Portugal

Older adults are more prone to chronic illnesses, mobility challenges, and age-related disabilities, all of which demand regular medical attention and specialised care. The complexity of the territory in Basilicata, Italy, — a mountainous region with little inland villages, isolated by limited or nonexistent public transportation and poor road infrastructure — makes it very difficult to reach local hospitals for the elderly. General practitioners serving rural areas often are the first and only point of contact for their patients, providing all-round care for them.

In this context, the lack of employment opportunities is driving many people including healthcare professionals to relocate, resulting in worsening services and understaffing. Also, elderly patients are often forced to seek treatment in other regions, typically in the northern region of Lombardia, at their own expense.

Access to healthcare is equally challenging in Oleiros, the most aged municipality in Portugal. Limited human and material resources, desertification and geographical dispersion, winding roads and lack of public transportation increase already significant distances. Patients share taxis with their neighbours to be able to afford a visit to the doctors, who schedule appointments on the only day of the week the bus runs. Family members come from coastal cities to drive their loved ones to the doctor, firefighters transport patients to hospitals across the country for treatments, doctors use their own equipments to better perform tasks. Over the last decade, Oleiros has tried to adapt to the growing health needs of the elderly population setting up a mobile health unit and trying to attract GPs to settle in town to fill the gaps left by nationwide health policies.

This investigations shows how lack of territorial infrastructure and lack of investments in young doctors impacts on the elderly population in some of the oldest and most depopulated regions of Europe.

Photographer: Pedro Martins
Caption: Sílvia Antunes, a nurse from the Oleiros mobile health unit, examines 80-year old Alice Mendes, a resident of a remote village in the municipality