Free Clinic in Pellaro, Calabria

A healthcare system without co-pays or fees, truly serving citizens and restoring everyone's right to healthcare: a miracle, almost, but don't tell that to the doctors, nurses, and assistants who work every day to make it possible, in a suburban neighborhood of Reggio Calabria. Because the 12 people who work there (9 doctors, 3 administrative staff), the 20 volunteer doctors and nurses, and the 30 people treated each year in a region ranked last for waste, inefficiency, and poor healthcare cannot be called a miracle. They are an example of how to rethink healthcare, proof that, as stated Lino Caserta, Head of Gastroenterology at the Reggio Calabria Polyclinic and President of the Solidarity Medicine Outpatient Clinic"We are proof," he said in an interview with L'Espresso, "that the crisis can be an opportunity. All it takes is imagination, vision, and the courage to break the mold."

Free clinic in Pellaro

Crushed by definitions that feel alien and ill-fitting, caught in the grip of the difficulty of finding funds and with the daily difficulties of maintaining an excellent service, the operators of the ACE clinic in Pellaro, managed by the Calabrese Hepatology AssociationFor ten years, they have been offering excellent, free healthcare, accessible only with a prescription from your GP. There are no fixed fees; everyone gives as much as they want, when they want. A free donation, or even nothing if you can't afford it.

The unconventional journey of the solidarity medicine clinic began ten years ago, thanks to an initial donation and the tenacity of doctors and nurses, all volunteers, who requested and obtained a loan for use of an old local health authority facility, originally intended as a psychiatric center but never even inaugurated—one of the many cathedrals in the wasteland of Southern Italy's wasteland of inefficiency. Since that day, patients from all over the region have come for specialist appointments: some for an ultrasound, some for an ECG, some for a diabetes checkup. Often, it's not only the less well-off who turn to the Pellaro clinic, but also middle-class and white-collar citizens who can't access public healthcare in a reasonable timeframe and find private healthcare unaffordable. The model seems to work: supported by donations from patients and foundations, the clinic closes in the black every year, regularly publishing its annual financial statements with maximum transparency.

The services offered are extensive: cardiology, surgery, hepatology, urology, diabetology, endocrinology, dermatology, orthopedics, gastroenterology, pediatric neurosurgery, psychiatry, and rheumatology. Even psychotherapy is accessible at affordable prices. On-site, a small white building with manicured flowerbeds, there are also two nutritionists and a psychologist, because the Ace Center was created primarily to be the hub of a wellness journey that begins, above all, with prevention. For this reason, the outpatient clinic includes a park, a library, a social and health information desk and a study and research centre, which weighs on the centre's budget but which allows for the development of many prevention projects.As Dr. Caserta specifies in the same interview: "We decided to do something to address the problem immediately, but also to build a long-term strategy to prevent other children from having the same problem in the future." And it's not about charity—he's keen to point out—it's the most sensible thing to do because prevention, education, early diagnosis, and screening mean fewer people will need to go to the hospital.

The idea behind the center, and every solidarity medicine project, is always the same: healthcare cannot, and must not, be a luxury for the rich. The Constitution of the Italian Republic also states this.

(Featured image from Famiglia Cristiana // Photo credits: Famiglia Cristiana)

Pellaro: The Calabrian clinic where doctors perform visits and don't charge.

Free clinic in Pellaro

Read also:

Want to see a selection of our news?