«It will be ready in June, the hospice within the year»

ANCONA Umberto I, we’re almost there. But this time for real. «By the end of June I believe we will have the ribbon cutting» anticipates Giovanni Stroppa, director of the Ast of Ancona. «This is the target we set ourselves and we are respecting it» he continues. Two more months, in short, and the Largo Cappelli clinic will be back in operation. Or at least, a part of it. The first to reopen will in fact be building 1, the one that will house the services currently offered by the Viale della Vittoria clinic – it will take a few more months for the second, intended for a hospice.

The timetable

«We will complete the testing of the first building by the end of May» explains Stroppa. This means that – also thanks to the interest and synergy with the Municipality – the impasse which for months had held the reopening of the former civil hospital in check has finally found a solution. The Enel technicians, in fact, needed to pass over the property of the Santarelli crash (300 luxury homes were supposed to be built there, a crash worth almost 300 million) in order to make the connection. Fundamental connection to carry out the final tests necessary to release from the contract the contractor who had already finished the work on the masonry and systems a few months ago. Just to give an idea of ​​how long it took to free ourselves, Corriere Adriatico had already written about this problem at the end of October last year. Crumbs, however, if we consider the long and troubled parable of Umberto I. Closed in 2003, the first program agreement between the Ministry of Health and the Marche Region for the recovery of the structure dates back to October 2008. Two years later, in September 2010, here is the definitive project for the rebirth of the two pavilions. Here comes the first stumble. In fact, we had to wait until October 2015 for the Municipality to issue the regular building permit, while the following month the 6.5 million contract for the works was awarded. Work delivered in April 2016 and immediately suspended because archaeological checks were necessary. A matter of months, already in October there was the green light. And then? The story is long but the key points are these: in January 2018 the costs rose to 7.6 million euros and it was July 2021 that Asur obtained the second three-year extension of the building permit (the first, of two years, had been there in 2019). We therefore arrive at the present, in April 2024.

The constant postponements

In between, a series of possible dates for a ribbon cutting always announced with great fanfare and then silently postponed. By way of example: the first “day Stroppa is convinced of this. «In June we will move the clinics» he promises. An activity that should last a few weeks. «As regards the tender for the furnishings – continues the director – this has been closed and we have the material available». Which will be used to complete the first building as well as the second, the one for hospice use. Testing on this second building will begin as soon as the tour de force for the clinic has been completed. How long will it take? Stroppa replies confidently, “of course yes”, when we ask him if we will be able to see a fully functioning Umberto I by the end of 2024. But the director likes to tread carefully, doing before saying. This is why his focus is entirely on the June deadline, which must be strictly respected. The rest will be seen in due time. “I’ll think about it tomorrow” said a song.

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