For over 11 hours an ecological operator was injured in a road accident has been located in the emergency room of the Lipari hospital, waiting for a transfer to a orthopedics department. The man reported the fracture of tibia and perone, but the island garrison is not equipped to perform the necessary surgery.
The health personnel immediately started the search for a bed in several Sicilian hospitals, without however obtaining any availability at the moment. Consequently, the patient is blocked in Lipari, in a situation that rekindles the debate on the absence of essential services in the archipelago.
“The persistent absence of an orthopedics department at the Lipari hospital continues to represent a real emergency for the entire archipelago of the Aeolian Islands”, denounces the honorable Tommaso Calderone, president of the bicameral commission for the fight against the inconvenience deriving from the insularity. Despite the numerous requests of citizenship, those who need orthopedic care-residents or tourists-must contact the Milazzo hospital, facing complicated transfers from the weather-marine conditions.
The activation of a small clinic dedicated to the management of plaster systems, operational one day a week, represents a minimum but not sufficient support to fill the serious structural deficiencies. Calderone underlines the need for an organic health plan that guarantees the hospital of Lipari stable professional resources and an efficient organization, capable of returning dignity, safety and continuity of care to the Eolian community and the numerous visitors of the archipelago. “It is hoped – he concludes – a timely, incisive and decisive intervention by the Provincial Health Authority of Messina, aimed at the full restoration of the functional conditions of the Aeolian hospital”.