Tensions continue to rise in Gallura due to the dire conditions of hospitals and the entire local healthcare system.
The mayors of the Northeast have contacted the regional president, Alessandra Todde (interim health councilor), directly regarding three unanswered letters regarding the situation at the hospitals in Olbia, Tempio, and La Maddalena.
Now, a fourth protest letter has been sent to Alessandra Todde, signed by Gianni Addis and Francesco Lai (mayors of Tempio and Loiri Porto San Paolo), president and vice president of the Olbia Local Health Authority's Social and Health Conference. Through their colleagues who chair the Conference, all the mayors of Gallura are once again addressing the regional government "to highlight the hardship faced by our fellow citizens in the face of a healthcare system on the verge of collapse. We are deprived of essential healthcare services, both for chronic conditions and for emergency care. There are also legitimate demands and concerns from healthcare workers (doctors, nurses, and healthcare assistants)."
Addis and Lai write: "Our letters have gone unanswered, despite the seriousness of the situation in our hospitals that was highlighted in them."
In recent days, the climate has become even more tense. The final straw was the visit of the Director General of the Department of Health, Thomas Schael. The mayors wrote, "without any communication being given to us. It is with regret that we acknowledge the missed opportunity for a meeting with local authorities, which would have been appropriate and certainly useful."
The reference is to the director general's inspections in La Maddalena and Tempio. The mayors of the Northeast are feeling pressure from the communities they represent and speak of a "very serious health emergency in Gallura, repeatedly reported to no avail." Addis and Lai ask Alessandra Todde to attend a meeting of the Social and Health Conference and also appeal to the Vice President of the Region, Giuseppe Meloni, the President of the Sixth Permanent Commission of the Regional Council, Carla Fundoni, the Prefecture of Sassari, the Ombudsman for Patients' Rights, and the National Association of Italian Municipalities (ANCI).
There are serious concerns about the Olbia hospital's emergency room (without payroll workers since July 1st, in the middle of the summer season), the possible closure of the Mobi department at Paolo Merlo, and the Tempio emergency room. Addressing Todde, Addis and Lai denounced, "The Olbia and Maddalena hospitals are complaining of enormous difficulties in ensuring, in a sufficiently safe and regular manner, the services they are required to provide. All of the Tempio hospital's departments are suffering from a continuous and inexorable downsizing."
The mayor of Tempio, Gianni Addis, has also turned to the judiciary several times.
