In Oristano the Oncology department is at risk of paralysis. No more new patients: the two remaining specialists cannot take on more cases since they alone already have to follow over 520 patients.

The head physician Luigi Curreli was therefore forced to send a note to all the departments of San Martino explaining that new admissions are blocked. "We are not sure when the situation will change - he observed - we do not know if and when any reinforcements will arrive, so we cannot take on other patients". In recent months a competition had been announced by Ares and "looking at the ranking no doctor chose Oristano".

An absurd situation as reported by various users including the daughter of an 85-year-old from Santa Giusta struggling with lung cancer. "We wasted a month waiting for them to tell us if and when my father could start chemotherapy. And with such an aggressive tumor, thirty days cannot be wasted behind bureaucracy."

"On November 5, my father had been examined in the Oncology department at San Martino and was told that he would have to undergo chemotherapy," says his 42-year-old daughter. However, other tests were needed first, which were carried out at Brotzu only at the end of November. "In the meantime," adds the woman, "we also asked for a consultation at the IEO in Milan and they recommended starting therapy immediately given the aggressiveness of the tumor. Since then, however, the oncologist who had followed us in Oristano has left, she left the medical records to her colleagues but we have not been able to contact anyone despite numerous attempts."

The woman recalls that a month has passed since chemotherapy was prescribed, "but my father hasn't started any treatment yet. Today we're going to Businco in Cagliari and we'll have to start over again."

The relatives of the patients live the situation with great dismay: "Who will take responsibility if our loved ones were to get worse or die due to lack of timely care?" , they ask. "We understand the difficulties of two doctors left alone, but bureaucracy and internal organization cannot further put an oncology patient at risk".

A similar appeal had also come from Gisella Masala, one of the spokespersons of the Committee for the Right to Health of the province. "The public system is crumbling, there has been no planning for the rotation of health personnel, no open-ended tenders are made - she observes - We must only thank those who still resist and carry on a department, but bureaucracy cannot be a further obstacle for cancer patients".

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