There are at least 20,000 Sardinians without a family doctor . An even more serious emergency in the Oristano area, in the Sulcis and in Ogliastra where, in the summer, with the medical and tourist guards already reduced to a minimum, the situation is very critical.
«There are countries - explains Rosalba Melis, spokeswoman for the Association of general practitioners who called together its hundreds of members on 9 September in Tramatza - where people now consider it "normal" to live without a family doctor. I have seen dramatic situations, I am thinking of Ussassai or Seui, some citizens pay for urgent visits, many are not treated, and many bedridden elderly people are left without assistance, abandoned to their fate ».
In Cagliari, patients who no longer have their doctor, who has retired, cannot find a replacement because the new professionals in the latest rankings are awaiting assignment of the assignment.
«Ares should have done it before the summer holidays», underlines Umberto Nevisco, secretary of Fimmg, «instead they are late. In short, there is a small army of colleagues ready to take up service, and these go to the cities, but as far as the "suburbs" are concerned, the problem remains, because hardly anyone wants to go there».
In May, the Health Councilor Carlo Doria had thought of a provision (later approved by the Regional Council) which authorised, on a voluntary basis , general practitioners operating in disadvantaged areas to raise the maximum number of patients from 1,500 to 1,800 . At the end of June, the Government rejected the rule , but any exceptions to the ceiling can be authorized for particular local situations for no more than six months, and in implementation of the regional programming, the Air (the Regional Supplementary Agreement) can provide for the raising the ceiling up to the maximum limit of 1,800 exclusively for doctors who operate in the context of multi-professional organizational forms, with secretarial staff and nurses, to ensure continuity of assistance in disadvantaged areas.
