Bonaccini: for the Piacenza hospital the governor-candidate promises another 17 million, but on the doctors…

Stefano Bonaccini: the echoes of his visit to Piacenza yesterday have not yet died away. The last, perhaps, as president of the Emilia-Romagna Region, while the governor sails towards the Strasbourg Parliament as the leading candidate of the Democratic Party in the North East for the European elections on 8 and 9 June. Accompanied by regional councilors Raffaele Donini (Health) e Andrea Corsini (Transport), Bonaccini was welcomed in the Teatini hall by the mayor of Piacenza Katia Tarasconiby the president of the Province, Monica Patelliand by the director of the ASL, Paola Bardasi.

The occasion it was one of the important ones, not a catwalk built ad hoc: the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Region, Municipality and Province, where Bologna undertakes to find an allocation of 17 million euros over the next 5 years. Objective? Financing the roads serving the new hospital: roads, roundabouts and parking lots, lots of greenery and (we hope) perhaps even the heliport. If these resources are not enough, the Municipality and Province will open the purse strings. It’s a shame that the Piacenza Provincial Council, dominated by the centre-right, knew nothing about it; and during the afternoon session he protested animatedly against this signature of the centre-left president Patelli, defined as “electoralistic”.

The three hospitals

But let’s go back yesterday morning in the splendid Teatini room. In front of the elite of the city, institutions, associations, healthcare and center-left of Piacenza, between handshakes, hugs and pats on the back, naturally depending on the level of confidence, the bi-president (also of the Democratic Party) and candidate for the European elections, at the presentation of the protocol he focused on the significance of the Piacenza hospital. “Investing in public health means leaving a future for the community,” Bonaccini began. “Fifteen days ago I presented the project for their new hospital in Carpi. With the one in Cesena and the one in Piacenza we have three hospitals designed in the post-Covid era in Emilia-Romagna. The increase in prices has increased the number of projects in the three cities, but the promise we have made will be kept.”

The doubts of Piacenza

However, not out of mistrust towards him, even if he is leaving the presidency of the Region, some doubts are lurking in Piacenza. The recent innovation, namely that of the public-private partnership (PPP), is quite worrying. The new hospital will cost 296 million today. Nearly 136 will come from public funding. For the others, however, a private partner will be needed who will have to pay the difference of over 160 million. Times? We are talking about 18 months to find the right interlocutor. Donini tried to throw water on the fire of doubts: “We took this path because the costs of the three hospitals – Piacenza, Carpi and Cesena – between inflation and increases in raw materials exceeded the resources we had decided to set aside. But for Piacenza nothing changes: the annual fee to be paid to the private individual will be borne by the Region”.

Walls and doctors

Bonaccini then he explained: “As a Region we have invested so much in public health, while this Government is weakening it. We have not stopped, as demonstrated by the reform of the Cau, the assistance and emergency centers that support the classic emergency rooms; with good results, given for example the average waiting times of 45 minutes”. And on the new hospital, he added: “The departments have been designed to be as efficient and effective as possible.”

While he leaves, with the reporter asking him about future investments not only in the walls but also in healthcare personnel, but the president-candidate gets annoyed: “Why are you doing it to me? She shows that she doesn’t know the problem. You ask the minister and the government. They are the ones who have to answer this question.” Then Bonaccini calms down, having seen the drama in front of a lot of notables, and focuses on the problem.

“With a regional law, together with Tuscany and Piedmont (centre-right) we asked the Government for two things: to bring public spending to 7.5% of the national GDP and to remove employment ceilings. After that, there is a problem in the programming of this country. Doctors and nurses have been declining for nine years. Today we hold competitions without being able to find an adequate number of staff. So a problem should also be posed in relation to the salaries of these professionals, because unfortunately in recent years I have seen them move from the public to the private sector or even change jobs”, says the president.

What to do?

“If I were to the Government, from the cut in the tax wedge the first paycheck I would increase would be that of doctors and nurses; and this applies not only in Emilia-Romagna but for all regions. Because if we don’t have an adequate number of professionals ready to work in the public health system, it would be good to set up the structures, hospitals, community homes and so on, but we risk finding ourselves in difficulty in finding staff”, admits Bonaccini.

And he concludes: “If with your question you were referring to the topic of health cooperatives and token contracts, we will never need them again. It is not the appropriate policy, even though it is sometimes resorted to in times of difficulty. On the other hand, if Emilia-Romagna is the region that has the highest number of citizens arriving for treatment, it means that the Italian public health system is not in a good place. In short, as an Italian I would like to live in a country where people can get treatment close to their home.”