Delayed construction and denied care. Trade unionists Carlo Marras (FP-CGIL), Paolo Cugliara (FIALS), and Guido Sarritzu (FP-CISL) aren't just complaining about construction delays: the failure to complete the new operating rooms at Businco (owned by Arnas Brotzu) on time, according to worker representatives, is also having serious consequences for the quality and quantity of care provided to cancer patients.
Delivery was scheduled for June 30th. But at the hospital on Via Jenner, in Cagliari, only the contractor's workers are working. And the schedule isn't being met.
Meanwhile, the unionists argue, "official hospitalization data paint a picture that deserves answers. Between 2024 and 2025, admissions to the Businco Gynecology Unit dropped from 394 to 348 (-11.7%), while those in the Pain Management Unit dropped from 1,317 to 946 (-28.2%). These numbers alone do not demonstrate a direct relationship with the closure of operating rooms," they emphasize, "but they cannot be dismissed as mere statistical variations. Especially in a regional referral oncology hospital."
The question posed by Marras, Cugliara, and Sarritzu "is inevitable: where have the patients who previously found treatment at Businco gone? Have they been transferred to other public or private facilities? Have they had to seek treatment outside the region? Have they been postponed or given up on treatment?"
And while the new operating rooms at the Oncology Hospital remain idle, another unknown looms: "The possible start, in early 2027, of work on the operating suite at San Michele, where part of the activity" no longer covered at Businco has been transferred. "If these operating rooms were to be affected, where will oncology procedures be guaranteed? What plan has Arnas developed to avoid a further reduction in surgical activity?" These are the questions posed to the healthcare authority's management.
The risk, according to CGIL, FIALS, and CISL, is a double penalty: first, the closure of the Businco theaters without the new ones being ready, then possible restrictions even on the facility that was supposed to absorb some of the activity.
The unions are calling for abandoning triumphalistic announcements and making public the data on scheduled and completed surgeries, procedures performed and postponed, waiting list trends, activities transferred to San Michele, and any services transferred to outpatient settings. "It is also necessary to clarify what happened to the patients no longer treated at Businco, how many found care elsewhere, and how many had to turn to facilities outside the region."
