Second guessing whether revalidation was for the chop was this month’s game. I lost. I’d heard from usually reliable sources that it was going. But then the new health secretary went and gave it a reprieve - for another year at least.
While I agree doctors should have to prove their ongoing competence, I think we need to chill out a little.
But maybe not as much as the Italians. A report this week revealed that between 10,000 and 15,000 doctors in Italy are unqualified.
More than a thousand people were charged last year with unauthorised exercise of a medical profession, including fake doctors, spurious dentists and even a few sham nurses.
Trouble is, the penalty is only a fine of up to €516 (£440).
“We catch phoneys who laugh in our face,” Captain Marco Datti of the carabinieri told the daily La Repubblica. “They say: ‘I’ll just pay €500, change premises and start again’.”
A self-appointed urologist told La Repubblica he had only been unmasked because “My ex-wife reported me because I had another woman. Otherwise, I’d still be a doctor.” Interviewed by the paper on condition it did not reveal his name, he said he had been able to enrol for training as a specialist in Trieste by means of false self-certification.
And there’s us getting all hot and bothered about a bit of CPD…
Tags: Humour, Revalidation
