The beds were not enough before Covid: even then they were below the parameters imposed by the ministerial decrees. They have shrunk during the pandemic. Once the virus emergency has passed, the situation has even worsened, because there is the pressure of patients from other provinces who are flocking to the capital. And with the imminent reorganization of the departments, scenarios of system collapse loom.

Raising the alarm on the conditions of the trauma network in the metropolitan area of Cagliari is Emanuele Cabras, director, orthopaedist, delegate to Brotzu del Cimo, the doctors' union. The one sent to the Arnas leaders is a detailed document, which is based on numbers that seem to be in free fall.

Before the revolution imposed by the pandemic, in the vast area of Cagliari there were four structures (complex operational units) in the orthopedic-traumatology area. There was the Brotzu Orthopaedics, «mainly dedicated to complex pathologies, polytrauma and pediatric traumatology»: 18 beds. The University Orthopedic Clinic and Orthopedics and Reconstructive Microsurgery, both at Marino, were operational: 66 beds in total. In addition, there were another 24 beds in the complex Traumatology and Orthopedics operational unit of the Santissima Trinità. For a total of 108 seats.

Already with these availability , the system «was operating in difficult conditions linked to the lack of provision of a network and the limited availability of operating sessions which have always been the funnel that has affected the performance of the surgical departments», underlines Cabras. Which also provides another number: Ministerial Decree 70 of 2015, which establishes minimum and maximum ceilings, "provided for 132 Traumatology beds in public facilities for the vast area of Cagliari". So the Cagliaritano circuit was not in order. Then Covid arrived, with the revolution of the departments. After the rubble left by the virus "there are currently 74 public beds in the vast area of Cagliari (+ 7 cots at Brotzu), compared to 108 in 2019 and the 132 foreseen by Ministerial Decree 70", writes the doctors' representative.