More business trips. And the expenses to support them are rising sharply. Fausto Piga , deputy group leader of the Brothers of Italy party in the Regional Council, is calculating the expenses needed to pay for the travel of the Director General of the Department of Health, Thomas Schael : "The number of nights spent away from home in Sardinia has increased" compared to the past. " It's important to look at this clearly and for Todde to put a stop to it."
On May 28, the Melonian requested access to the documents to reconstruct the travels of Schael, who was appointed in mid-February. He now has the data, comparable with those of all his predecessors at the top of the department.
"Everything seems to be in order, but the comparison doesn't go unnoticed," says Piga. " In just over three months, Thomas Schael has requested travel, food, and accommodation reimbursements equal to what his predecessors have requested over the last seven years."
Specifically, "Marcello Tidore made four trips in 32 months, earning a total of €793.71 in reimbursements; Francesca Piras made seven trips in 28 months, earning a total of €1,353.09 in reimbursements; and finally, Luciano Oppo, during his brief stint as Director General of Health, made one trip for a total of €318." Calculator in hand , "Dr. Thomas Schael was paid €2,309.83 in just over 100 days of assignment for a total of eleven trips."
The start and end of his trips are also striking, the Fratelli d'Italia representative emphasizes: "Schael spent 18 nights away from Sardinia in just over 100 days, generally between Tuesdays and Thursdays, unlike his predecessors who usually returned to the office on the same day even for continental trips."
Piga clarifies that he doesn't want to attack the current director general, "whom I don't know, and if anything, I'll judge by what he manages to achieve in the healthcare sector. I'm critical of the numbers and the particularly dynamic working methods compared to the past, which inevitably prompt questions I'll ask President Todde: What concrete results did Schael's travel bring? Were the trips unavoidable, or could video conferences have been held as an alternative? Could the 18 nights of travel have been limited to just 100 days, considering that in the last seven years, only two overnight stays away from home have been authorized?"
Are those reported ridiculous amounts? Piga anticipates the controversy: "True, today we're talking about around €2,500, seemingly negligible. But at this rate and without brakes, for an entire legislature it's approaching €50,000, and it's best to avoid it unless absolutely necessary, especially considering that during the Solinas legislature, the Director General of Health's travel expenses totaled just over €2,000."
A final piece of advice for Schael: "A few more video conferences could help us spend more time in Sardinia and less time traveling."