Dr. Paolo Piras is a full-time family doctor , practically a veteran. Seventy-four years old, born in Seui, he retired in February 2021 and responded positively to calls from the Cagliari and Lanusei local health authorities. "I didn't apply to stay on; they asked me if I was available." He has never stopped working, and today, in his practice in Sadali, he continues to see patients from the town and surrounding area.

He is one of the doctors over 70 who haven't given up their white coats. They are a small contingent throughout southern Sardinia, the most populous area. On the bleak map of 470 vacant positions across the region, dozens of closed practices remain, leaving tens of thousands of people (470,000 across the island) without a GP.

THE MAP – A desolation that—to stay in the southern region—stretches from Sulcis Iglesiente (1,500 uncovered patients between Giba and Piscinas alone) to the towns of Medio Campidano, from the villages around Cagliari to Sarcidano and Barbagia di Seulo. These areas are partly distant from hospitals and emergency rooms, with an elderly population and therefore a burden of chronic diseases that require better care. After the Constitutional Court rejected the government's appeal against the regional law (extended through 2026) that allows local health authorities to recall retired general practitioners (or ask those approaching retirement to remain) to address gaps in care, older doctors remain a crucial resource in averting the definitive collapse of primary care. Even more so because – faced with the enormous number of retirements, which by 2030 will see the departure of at least 600 white coats in Sardinia – young people no longer choose this specialization, and the few that exist refuse disadvantaged locations.

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