Two specialists to cover all shifts at the Tempio Emergency Department (an average of 50 admissions per day, peaking at 80 during the summer). Without paid doctors since June 30th, the service at Paolo Dettori (the Alta Gallura hospital) is headed for a dire situation, and the possibility of closure due to staff shortages is far from theoretical.

The doctors currently on duty (the department head, Nicola Tondini, and his colleague Franca Pischedda) are expected to take on extra shifts, amounting to dozens of additional hours per month. From tomorrow until July 10th, there will already be unfilled shifts; the first problems will arise over the weekend.

According to the little that has leaked out from the hospital (the Olbia Local Health Authority has literally silenced the healthcare staff), the watchword is "Tempio doesn't close." At the same time, however, the Paolo Dettori, following the end of the contract-based program, has had no emergency room reinforcements; in fact, specialist Franca Pischedda is forced to cover shifts in Olbia as well. The Health Department has used all the doctors who arrived in Olbia's Gallura region to staff the Giovanni Paolo II emergency room, which, in fact, is the one bearing the heaviest workload. The Paolo Dettori specialists have been left alone; in effect, the situation, in all its drama, has been dumped on them.

There is talk of service orders to use doctors "seconded" from other departments at the Paolo Dettori Hospital in the Emergency Room, a decision that would lead to an inevitable conflict.

The Region has come up with a solution: using a register and agreements. But the unknown remains.

© Riproduzione riservata