He died around 6.30pm on Saturday, of cardiac arrest, in a 118 car near Acquacoperta (on State Road 107)directed to the Annunziata of Cosenza. The generous heart of Serafino Congi48 years old, employed, married and father of two girls, stopped beating before reaching the Hub hospital. He arrived at the emergency room of San Giovanni in Fiore around 3pm, with the doctors immediately understanding the seriousness of his situation. Immediately afterwards, in fact, after having given him initial treatment, they took action to transfer him to the Annunziata.
As we learned, when the sun went down it was no longer safe to call for an air ambulance, while the city’s 118 emergency service did not have a doctor on duty, and therefore the patient could not be transferred without a doctor on board. A coincidence of events that ended up determining the fate of the 48-year-old. In San Giovanni there is an incessant and chronic lack of doctors, so much so that out of a staff of 6 “white coats”, there are just 2, with the impossibility of covering all shifts. A deficit that becomes a serious problem in the case of time-dependent pathologies. As in the case of the 48 year old.
From the emergency room they requested a medical ambulance in Cosenza which, although promptly arrived in the city hospital which is 60 km from San Giovanni. towards the Annunziata a trembling journey between life and death began which was interrupted in the flowerbed of Acquacoperta, where the two nurses and the doctor on board the ambulance desperately attempted to resuscitate the man in the hope of putting him safe. A futile operation which was followed by the family members who had followed the ambulance with their own vehicle. By order of the judicial authority, the body was transferred to Cosenza where the autopsy examination will be carried out.
The news of the death of Serafino Congi, belonging to an esteemed family, shocked the entire city and the areaa tragedy which, beyond the medico-legal aspects, confirms the need to strengthen the 118 facilities and staff of peripheral hospitals and especially those in the mountains, such as that of San Giovanni. In short, healthcare must be guaranteed. And as Sergio Harari claims, “like 48 years ago, a big project is needed.” No longer postponable.