A document for the protection of local health services in the Cep neighborhood of Cagliari. This is what was registered today at the Presidency of the City Council, on the initiative of councilors Stefania Loi and Alessandra Zedda. It was created following the closure - which took place last April 17 - of the Guardia Medica in via Talete and the transfer of services to viale Trieste. The former Cep health center, for decades a point of reference not only for the neighborhood but also for the entire city, guaranteed essential care to a particularly fragile population: over 30% of residents suffer from chronic diseases and approximately 40% of the elderly have mobility difficulties. The transfer has exacerbated social hardship, making access to care even more difficult, also aggravated by the chronic lack of parking in the new location.
"We cannot accept that an entire neighborhood is deprived of essential health facilities," says Stefania Loi . "We need to intervene urgently to give back to the citizens of the CEP a local health service worthy of the name." The closure of the Guardia Medica is part of a broader context of progressive impoverishment of local services. In recent years, the neighborhood has also lost its only newsstand, many sports facilities and, recently, its historic local market, active since the 1970s as a municipal consumer body.
The market represented a valuable social and economic presence, which promoted sociality and daily supplies, especially for the elderly and families. "For decades it was the beating heart of the community," emphasizes Alessandra Zedda. "Frequently visited by students, athletes, families. Its closure, combined with the loss of the Emergency Medical Service, risks transforming the Cep into an abandoned neighborhood ."
The lack of services is already having concrete effects: the area is increasingly marked by urban decay, insecurity and the growing difficulty of accessing essential goods and care, while the neighborhood is struggling to cope with the aging of the population and the migratory phenomenon. "We do not want the Cep to become a ghost neighborhood", the councilors warned . "Urban regeneration cannot be based only on the resurfacing of streets or buildings: it must start from the protection of services that guarantee quality of life and social cohesion".
