For three years now, no more children have been born in Ogliastra and mothers in the area are forced to travel long distances to the island to give birth to their children.
After countless demonstrations , the association #giulemanidallogliastra returns to urge a decisive intervention from the new regional council through a letter addressed to the president of the Region Alessandra Todde, to the health councilor Armando Bartolazzi and to the regional councilor of the territory Salvatore Corrrias (Pd). And in the absence of concrete answers, they announce their return to the streets.
"We are writing to you to express the growing concern and deep discontent of the Ogliastra community regarding the stalemate at the Nostra Signora della Mercede hospital in Lanusei, with particular reference to the closure of the Birth Point and the Pediatrics department that has now lasted for over three years and continues to be justified as 'temporary' - write the members of the committee - The families of our territory are exasperated: future mothers are forced to make exhausting and risky journeys to other cities in Sardinia to give birth, and the entire community feels a growing sense of abandonment. We can no longer accept this situation and we ask for clarification on what you have planned for the reopening of these essential services".
The association is addressing in particular the councilor Bartolazzi, asking him to commit to "obtaining a derogation from the State-Regions agreement, implemented in the ministerial decree 70 of 2015, which provides for the deactivation of birth points with fewer than 500 births per year".
" In addition to the numbers, there are rights: we are citizens who, like everyone else, deserve adequate and accessible healthcare ," the letter continues. "Furthermore, we strongly request that when the birth center reopens, the 'monitoring' be eliminated, a worrying symptom of possible future closures. Our priority must be the health of mothers and children."
In the absence of "concrete answers and clear timeframes" for the reopening of the Birth Point and Pediatrics,
