The little girl had to be operated on: emergency appendectomy . But there are no pediatric surgeons in the hospital . So for a 7 year old girl the day began with an ambulance ride from Alghero to Cagliari .
The regional councilor of the Red-Green alliance and vice president of the Health commission Daniele Cocco denounced the incident: « Health care in central-northern Sardinia is now collapsing ! In the departments there are no pediatric surgeons who operate on children while the other surgeons work incessantly to carry out emergencies and already scheduled operations with increasingly long waiting lists. The serious shortcomings of the healthcare system in the territories of Sassari and central Sardinia, in addition to not guaranteeing citizens' right to health, have repercussions on a daily basis in the work of healthcare personnel who are often employed in exhausting shifts, without enjoying the necessary rest and holidays, and forced to work in emergency conditions. An absurd situation that I have been denouncing for years now." For the little girl, a story with a happy ending : she had surgery and is now well. But this episode "could have had serious consequences for the little girl's health."
«Despite the repeated requests from citizens and health workers – continues Cocco – to date no improvements are seen, there is a need for urgent action, many departments will soon close and those who will bear the greatest burden and inconvenience will be the most fragile and needy forced to move throughout the regional/national territory or to give up the necessary visits, checks and tests. I ask the Councilor for Hygiene and Health to take urgent action to ensure that the essential welfare and health services are guaranteed throughout the region with the hiring of new staff, giving priority to the hospitals that have more serious "suffering indices", and in particular that the 24-hour pediatric surgery service is guaranteed in the hospitals of central-northern Sardinia".
