The regional councilor Davide Tavernise he filed a question addressed to the President of the Council Roberto Occhiutoas Commissioner ad acta for the implementation of the Recovery Plan from the deficit of the health sector of the Calabria Region, to know “if and how he intends to take every useful, urgent and necessary initiative to open the new Emergency Room of the Cariati hospital. An opening, in truth, already announced by Occhiuto in the middle of the election campaign that, again and sadly, we can classify as fake news. In the new premises, renovated for over 800 thousand euros, the already existing First Aid Point has been temporarily transferred but there has been no reconversion of the same into an Emergency Room. And further analyzing the documents, it turns out that the new company act for the recruitment of the personnel necessary for the opening not only of the Emergency Room but also of the entire Hospital of the Disadvantaged Area of Cariati is missing”.
According to Tavernise, “it is necessary, in fact, to ensure 24/7 laboratory analysis, radiology and anesthesia/resuscitation services and to increase, as planned, the staffing of doctors, nurses and Oss. The serious delay with which we are proceeding with the opening of the Emergency Room of the “Vittorio Cosentino” in Cariati has created and continues to create serious damage to all the Calabrians of the Ionian Cosenza area, without a health reference point and exposed to a significant violation of their constitutionally protected rights, as well as to the regional economy, forced to pay the very high price of health emigration. The Cariati Disadvantaged Area Hospital serves a catchment area, whose municipalities are spread over a largely mountainous area; the inclusion of the facility in the hospital network arose from the critical issues relating to the geographical position of Cariati and the reference population catchment area with respect to the hospitals in the surrounding area, weighted with the healthcare needs expressed by the population of the reference catchment area. The DCA 14 March 2024, n. 69, highlights as additional critical elements the increase in tourist flows in the summer period and the phenomenon of passive health mobility. Flaunting the opening of an Emergency Room that does not exist, together with the systematic increase in users due to the summer season, in addition to representing a mockery for citizens, also means increasing access to the First Aid Point, which, operating with the same small number of employees, could go into crisis very soon”.