Pressure is growing on the island's hospitals due to extreme heat waves which, with temperatures well above 40 degrees, are impacting the health of the population , especially the elderly .
And if we add to this the enormous influx of holidaymakers to the island , a population that is multiplying every day, and the shortcomings in the network of medical and tourist guards, the consequent result is enormous pressure on the emergency rooms , which have to deal with reduced staff and insufficient beds for hospitalisation.
"We closed July with a 10 percent increase in admissions compared to the same month last year, and August is already worse, with a further 15 percent increase. We normally record over 5,000 admissions per month," explains Paolo Pinna Parpaglia, director of the Emergency Department at the AOU of Sassari and regional representative of Simeu (Italian Society of Emergency Medicine). "A 10 percent increase means another 500 patients requiring treatment .
And the situation isn't expected to improve in the coming days: the regional Civil Protection Department has issued a new high temperature alert, valid from today until Wednesday , for all inland areas of the island, where temperatures are expected to reach peaks of up to 43 degrees Celsius, especially in the Ottana plain, Logudoro, and Campidano. But there won't be a respite even midweek, with temperatures expected to remain above the seasonal average at least until mid-August.
The full article by Cristina Cossu, with additional features and insights, is available in L'Unione Sarda on newsstands and on the L'Unione Digital app.
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