Parents Continue to Push for Pediatric Emergency in Arco and Riva

Despite protests, thousands of signatures collected, and repeated requests, there is no pediatric emergency service available in Arco, Riva, and the surrounding areas. However, the parents of Alto Garda do not give up and continue to turn to the newspaper to publicly express their ongoing dissatisfaction. Whether they are right or wrong, it is certainly not our place to decide. Instead, it is the Azienda provinciale per i servizi sanitari (Provincial Agency for Health Services) that must respond to them, either by denying or fulfilling their expectations. Once and for all.

Current Situation and Parents’ Initiatives

The situation today remains exactly the same as two years ago. At that time, Cosetta Gubert, a young mother who had personally experienced the inconveniences caused by the lack of a pediatrician on duty during weekends, took action to raise public awareness and convince the Azienda of the necessity to establish the service.

In the schools where she was permitted, she distributed her appeals, and together with other parents sharing her opinion — and there were many — she began collecting signatures to support a petition. She reached a notable number (around 2,500), so much so that her initiative attracted the attention of the provincial councilors of Lega Nord, who submitted an inquiry on the topic.

However, all this fuss resulted in no response. The Health Agency, as such, must balance its accounts, and it is well known that in recent years, it has mostly cut back rather than added. This is well understood by district managers, who are required to respect and enforce a strict policy of savings and good management. In practical terms, for the parents of Alto Garda and their children, this means going to Rovereto and consulting the pediatric ward of the civil hospital.

Yesterday, the general manager of the Alto Garda and Ledro district, Dr. Elio Ottaviano, reiterated that at Rovereto there is a 24-hour service, every day of the year. If a pediatric visit is truly urgent, the twenty kilometers separating Riva or Arco from the S. Maria del Carmine hospital are neither too few nor too many.