The six -month extension was made official for the pediatric cardiac surgery department of the San Vincenzo hospital in Taormina. The center of pediatric cardiac surgery of the San Vincenzo hospital in Taormina, managed in agreement with the IRCCS Bambino Gesù in Rome, will remain operational therefore even after the expiry of 31 July. This is the result of yesterday’s meeting, in Rome between the regional councilor for health, Daniela Faraoni, the general manager of the Department for Strategic Planning, Salvatore Iacolino, and the top of the Ministries of Health and Economy and Finance.
The extension was allowed until next December 31st thanks to the commitment assumed by the commissioner Faraoni and the manager Iacolino to transmit the proposal of the new hospital network soon which will have to provide for the integration of the activities of the center of Taormina with the cardiac surgery department of the Papardo hospital in Messina. In Sicily there is already, as required by the 2019 hospital network, a pediatric cardiac surgery center at the Civic hospital of Palermo, entrusted to the foundation of the San Donato group, and the “Balduzzi decree” provides for the presence of a single structure every 5 million inhabitants: the Region is working on exceeding this constraint, as happened in other Italian realities.
“It has been and remains a very difficult negotiation – underlines the president of the Region, Renato Schifani – in which the regional government has tried to bring out the efforts that are being made to insert this structure in the entire Sicilian health system. It is not as simple as demagogic way, the opposition wants to make it appear. The derogation falls within a path of reorganization of the new hospital network to which the government has been working for months in a constant and discreet dialogue with the territory, with the aim of respecting all the parameters required by the Ministry. I therefore hope that the new plan soon sees the light without further obstacles due to preconceived positions ».
Faraoni: ‘Taormina cardiac surgery linked to hospital plan’
«Our main interest, like that of the national government, is to never come without our duty of care and assistance towards smaller patients. We asked and obtained this new extension to have more time to create the best structure in the field of pediatric cardiac surgery in Sicily. In the meantime, we continue in the path of reorganization of the regional hospital network that we are carrying out. The judgment of the ministries on the permanence of pediatric cardiac surgery in the Ionian town is not only linked to this integration with the activities of the Papardo di Messina but will be overall on the new Sicilian hospital network. We are doing a great job to make it adhering to the needs of the people and at the same time sustainable for the region on the financial level: an indispensable goal for the whole community “. The regional councilor for health Daniela Faraoni says it on pediatric cardiac surgery in Taormina.
CISL Messina’s comment
A decision that is welcomed favorably, but also with prudence, by CISL Sicily and the CISL of Messina. “It is a positive news,” say the general secretary of Cisl Sicily, Leonardo La Piana, and the general secretary of Cisl Messina, Antonino Alibrandi. “However, we cannot consider ourselves fully satisfied: we expected a longer extension, which concretely accompanied a final stabilization process of the ward within the San Vincenzo hospital”.
According to the two trade unionists, the extension of the activity represents only the first step of a wider path that must lead to the full definition of the future of the structure. “We need to start the work immediately to make the presence of pediatric cardiac surgery in Taormina stable and structural – they underline -. The department is a fundamental garrison for the entire territory and its destiny is closely linked to that of the Taorminese hospital “.
The CISL also highlights how the extension cannot be considered a definitive solution. «The concerns remain – explain the plain and Alibrandi -. The integration of the department had been hypothesized in the Sanità Commission in the Messina ASP network, which already participates with economic and personal resources today. However, we are talking about a structure that requires about one hundred operators: we cannot afford this path to be left to chance ».
Hence the request of the unions to open a permanent comparison table immediately to plan the future of the department. “Without a clear planning – they warn – this extension also risks becoming a palliative destined to collapse suddenly”.
Finally, the appeal to regional policy. “It is essential – conclude the CISL managers – that the Sicilian Deputation, in a bipartisan way, maintains the commitments made to guarantee the survival and consolidation of this health excellence. The guard cannot be lowered for another six months: a concrete and continuous commitment is needed to arrive at a definitive solution ».