The phone rings for a long time, but no one answers at the Microcitemico hospital in Cagliari. This situation is causing panic among the parents of young cancer patients, children who have been battling a difficult disease for a long time. "We try to call, to contact the doctors, but in vain," is the cry of pain from the families, already worn out by a very difficult journey and now forced to contend with the lack of a direct channel of communication.
The problem, they explain, is linked to a fault in the hospital's internal lines, which for about three weeks has knocked out telephones in all departments, from the ticket office to the operating units. Despite requests for clarification, the parents claim, no official response has yet been received.
"This is certainly a very serious situation," commented Francesca Ziccheddu of Asgop—the association that brings together parents of children and adolescents with hemato-oncological diseases—who was informed of the serious inconvenience. "I confirm, unfortunately, it's all true. Families are struggling, and medical staff are forced to use their personal cell phones for communications."
And that's not all. "Even if the phones worked," Ziccheddu adds, "other structural issues would remain, such as the pediatric intensive care unit: there are zero beds in Sardinia." This is a shortcoming the association continues to denounce, calling for the unit to be transferred to Brotzu, "the only facility on the island where trained pediatric anesthetists operate."
The incorporation of Microcitemico from ASL 8 to Brotzu is planned for January 1, 2026. But for families, already today, the need is one: to be able to communicate with those who take care of their children every day.
