The ambulance service in Italy is active for 24 hours all the time
number 118
Its provide medical assistance for Italians and people from another countries, including those who are staying in the country illegally.
Free medical assistance provided by the ambulance service applies to patients who have been assigned a red, yellow or green code. However, all patients with a white code will pay, with the exception of those who exempt from specialist appointments, and children under 14 years of age.
The person who has a more serious case will enter the emergency room faster.
After arrival at the emergency room, the patient is pre-examined by a professional nurse who carefully judges the symptoms and assigns a color code and the priority of the patient’s admission.
Kinds of codes:
-CODE RED (codice rosso) – absolute priority – Emergency, threat to life. Doctor intervene immediately, even if he has to abonded other activities he did at the moment.
-CODE YELLOW (codice giallo) – potentially life-threatening. It is assigned to a patient who is at risk of impairment of an important vital function (respiratory, cardiocirculatory, neurological). Intervention is guaranteed in a short time.
-CODE GREEN (codice verde) – less urgent – No threat to life. A lesion, a wound that does not require immediate medical intervention, the patient needs medical care that can be performed even after several hours, without endangering vital functions.
-CODE WHITE (codice bianco) – not very urgent – a condition that does not require immediate medical attention. It refers to damages or injuries that can be treated by a General practitioner (family doctor) or require outpatient treatment.