Return to service of retired doctors, the Government challenges the Sardinian law: new clash with Rome
Appeal before the Constitutional Court against the law that allows to plug the loopholes in the territory. Todde and Bartolazzi: «The Council of Ministers violates the right to health of the Sardinians». Anger from the Democratic Party and M5S: «An attack on autonomy»
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The Government challenges before the Constitutional Court the Sardinian law, approved in June, which allows retired doctors to return to service to offer a service to the population left without primary care. And the new controversy erupts on the Sardinia-Rome front.
"It is a measure created to cover a serious and clear emergency with shortages of general practitioners for thousands of inhabitants in some territories", attacks the Health Councilor Armando Bartolazzi, "it is a necessary measure for Sardinia: the challenge seems all the more incomprehensible since the recruitment of retired professionals is foreseen exclusively on a voluntary basis. In this way", concludes the representative of the Todde Council, "the Government violates the right to health of Sardinian citizens, especially those residing in the most disadvantaged areas of our island".
The first to raise his voice in the afternoon was the Democratic Party senator, Marco Meloni: «The government's decision seems incomprehensible and contradictory. Since 2007, our Region has taken full responsibility for the health needs on its territory, without burdening the state budget». For the Democrat , «the regional law that Minister Calderoli has proposed to challenge aims to guarantee continuity of care, avoiding interruptions of essential services for our population, particularly in an island context where health care faces particular challenges». Instead, «today a minister and a government tell us that their prejudices and bureaucratic formalisms prevail over the well-being and care of citizens, over the right of Sardinians to have a family doctor».
The reaction of the Sardinian M5S parliamentarians Ettore Licheri, Sabrina Licheri, Emiliano Fenu and Susanna Cherchi was predictable, but equally vehement: «This decision by the Government represents an attempt to restrict Sardinian autonomy in matters of health protection, which is a competence that belongs to the Region. In addition to the work that the Todde council is doing to try to revive Sardinian healthcare, we stand alongside the Region, which declares itself ready to defend in all appropriate venues its right to guarantee adequate healthcare services to the Sardinian people».
For her part, Governor Alessandra Todde comments: «While in Rome she promotes differentiated autonomy, the Meloni Government decided yesterday to challenge our regional law n.12 of 2024 which allows the recall of retired GPs to address, at least until the end of the year, the serious shortage of medical personnel. The Sardinia Region pays entirely for its own healthcare. But despite this, the government says that we have exceeded our powers. However – adds Todde – we continue to work, and even today, during the council, we have approved important measures on healthcare ».
(Unioneonline/E.Fr.)
