Hospital Reforms and Specialization Plans in Alto Mantovano

Thursday evening, a meeting was held at the initiative of the mayor, during which Dr. Colombo explained the results of the analysis conducted on the situation of the Poma hospital company and the proposals for its recovery. The monthly loss of 10 billion euros necessitates reconsidering the organizational model and centralizing expenditure control through the establishment of departments.

The analysis revealed that currently the hospitals are guided by the structure of supply: the six hospitals today have four basic specialties (medicine, surgery, orthopedics, gynecology-obstetrics), which are unable to respond to the changing demand for care, which should instead guide reorganization.

Reorganization Proposals

For Dr. Colombo, given that conditions are not in place for hospitals to become centers of excellence capable of covering the entire range of health services, the only possibility to prevent them from being transformed into socio-assistive residences is to attempt to recover them through specialization within the departmental model, which ensures safety and quality standards of the service.

For the Alto Mantovano

the proposal is to close the maternity ward at Castiglione, enhance the one in Asola, and transfer orthopedics to S. Pellegrino, given the presence of intensive care and an equipped radiology department for magnetic resonance imaging in this hospital. All of this with an investment of approximately 25 billion euros in the two hospitals.

Reasons and Specifics of the Proposals

The reasons behind the decision to keep the Asola maternity ward open were explained by Dr. Colombo: “The guiding factors are, on one hand, the current laws, which prevent maintaining a maternity ward performing fewer than 500 births per year, which is the case for Castiglione; on the other hand, the fact that, even with the absence of obstetrics at S. Pellegrino, local demand can be satisfied by the Ospedale di Desenzano.”

For Volta Mantovana, a pilot project of mixed public-private management is proposed: the goal, through an investment of 8 billion euros, is to emphasize its rehabilitative vocation while maintaining, due to the presence of operating rooms, day surgery.