Accredited private facilities are excluded from providing services, access to urgent healthcare is reserved only for those exempt by income, and those with exemptions for conditions, including serious ones, such as cancer patients, are not included. These, according to Stefano Schirru, regional councilor for Alleanza Sardegna, are the main critical issues in the "Good Healthcare Services" notice, launched by the regional Department of Labor together with the Department of Health.
The call for proposals, the opposition representative explains, "envisages the use of public resources for healthcare services provided by private facilities not accredited by the regional health system, excluding accredited private providers, which are an integral and structural part of the system, operate according to regional planning, and are subject to a stringent and ongoing system of requirements, controls, and audits in terms of quality, appropriateness, safety of care, and patient protection."
The exclusion, according to Schirru, "risks weakening the overall structure of the regional healthcare system and undermining the very value of institutional accreditation."
Furthermore, according to the representative of Alleanza Sardegna, the measure "does not effectively pursue the stated goal of reducing waiting lists: it limits access to urgent healthcare services to those exempt due to income, excluding citizens with identical clinical needs and holders of exemptions due to pathologies, even serious ones, such as cancer patients (code 048)."
This introduces "a criterion that risks being discriminatory in the healthcare sector, by giving priority to income requirements over clinical need, in conflict with the fundamental principles of the healthcare service."
In light of these critical issues, Schurru concludes, "I will seek clarification from the regional president and the labor councilor. The goal is understandable, but the method is not: public resources must strengthen the healthcare system, not circumvent its rules."
(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)
