Mantua City Council Condemns Hospital Service Decline and Restructuring

The city council in its latest session unanimously approved a document regarding hospital services, in which concern is expressed about the situation of Azienda Carlo Poma and especially the local San Pellegrino hospital.

Content of the document and reactions

The text, read to the assembly by Erminia Biaggi, the assessor, emphasizes that “after a full 10 months since the new management took office, there is complete immobilism, which heavily penalizes the entire Mantuan health system, entirely consolidated within the lumbering hospital company.”

There is also concern expressed over the restructuring plan that Poma intends to implement for the Castiglione hospital, involving the mutilation of essential services.

“Following previous commitments to the prompt establishment of the emergency and admissions department, including cardiology with a coronary unit and traumatology, and the construction of the already funded new wing of the hospital, we now observe a radical U-turn unjustifiably justified by budgetary needs,” wrote the councilors.

Criticisms were also voiced regarding the neglected state of the large ex Opg complex in the heart of the historic center, along with a strong request to enhance Obstetrics and Gynecology services, and the invitation to repurpose the Ghisiola buildings for new rehabilitation services.

Positions and comments

The assembly at Palazzo Gonzaga showed unanimous support for the document.

Decisive words were spoken in particular by Giancarlo Mattioli, leader of Castiglione Domani: “Our province is seriously at risk of losing public health services. We must react because this is a real danger, and fighting it is essential.”