"What happened at the Santissima Trinità Birth Unit is yet another demonstration of a healthcare system governed after the emergency has already exploded, rather than through planning and prevention." Paolo Cugliara, the provincial secretary of the Cagliari branch of the Italian National Federation of Hospitals (FIALS), is clear about the situation with the Obstetrics and Gynecology department at the Santissima Trinità, which was closed in the morning due to a shortage of pediatricians and reopened in the evening after an emergency meeting that enabled the creation of a network of specialized doctors who volunteered to cover shifts.
"The shortage of pediatricians didn't appear yesterday. Several professionals left the service, and the difficulties were well known. Yet admissions were suspended, only to then be remedied with stopgap solutions and specialists found elsewhere. The question is simple," says Cugliara, "why wasn't what we can do today done earlier?"
Emergency? And if, as reported in the press, hiring pediatricians costs around €100 an hour, it's natural to ask: how much would it have cost to retain and develop those who were already working at Santissima Trinità earlier?
And who's left? The union representative thinks of them: "Will they receive the same recognition? And what should the other Sardinian doctors, who have been providing essential services for years amid staff shortages, expect?" Cugliara asks.
The problem isn't the pediatricians called upon today to save the service. "The problem is a personnel policy that intervenes when professionals have already left. This is why the regional president must fully assume her political responsibilities. If she doesn't understand the dynamics of healthcare, she should have the institutional humility to leave its management to those with the skills, experience, and knowledge of the services. Healthcare isn't governed by announcements, nor can it be administered by emergencies."
Enrico Fresu