The water restrictions that some towns in the Sassari area are having to endure are severely impacting entire communities. "I am seriously concerned about what is happening in our homes, with water being distributed every other day, and in some homes, arriving several hours late after the water was reopened, it can only be used for half a day," said the mayor of Bonorva, Massimo D'Agostino. While the pipes are being filled, water restrictions are lasting up to 30 hours, and when it does arrive, it's cloudy.
"I try to understand what it's like to spend 30 hours with no water from the taps, with children, the elderly, and disabled people," he adds, "and when you try to take emergency action to address such a disaster, you're slapped in the face by bureaucracy."
The mayor, a physician, also highlights the disruptions to specialist appointments and the disaster in local healthcare. "Besides the physical strain I endure in doing what I have to do," says D'Agostino, "my hand shakes when I need to send a patient to the hospital because it feels like living in a Tolkien novel, where sending someone into that 'world' means condemning them to 15-20 hours of waiting, indifference, and often futility."
The mayor listens to the stories of patients returning from days spent on stretchers in the corridor, equipment malfunctions, and other anomalies in the healthcare system, "which are truly out of this world. It makes me think a thousand times before letting someone venture into the hospital. All this overshadows the many healthcare excellences we have in Sardinia, which do exist, but their efforts are overwhelmed by organizational shortcomings, political indolence, and their intrusiveness in healthcare."
Emergencies and extreme situations that require solutions. "When, finally, will someone decide to empathize and understand what a person feels when they spend 15 hours in the emergency room only to be sent home, or when they're told they can't take the exam for another 15 months?" This is Massimo D'Agostino's bitter conclusion, expressing his tiredness and concern about a situation that risks becoming the norm, one that many will eventually become accustomed to.