Mussomeli – The intense back and forth between the extraordinary commissioner of the ASP of Caltanissetta, Salvatore Lucio Ficarra, and the mayor of Mussomeli, Giuseppe Catania, regarding the state of the art of the Mussomeli hospital and future developments. Meanwhile, today at the Palazzo del Comune, all the trade unions are called for a meeting on the topic. The diatribe was apparently triggered by the note from the mayor of Catania a few days ago, in which reference was made to a “potential attempt to weaken the Maria Immacolata Longo by the provincial health management, due to the failure to reactivate the long-term care department . An attempt which, in fact, would undermine the important relaunch activity that the Catania administration has carried out in the last year and a half of activity”. Furthermore, the note, also sent to the health director of ASP 2, Luciano Fiorella, urges the strategic management of the ASP of Caltanissetta to “align its choices with the guidelines of the Regional Government which has given no small importance to the offer healthcare of the internal areas, taking into account that the citizens of these areas also pay 19% of their taxes to cover healthcare costs”.
Ficarra’s response was immediate and peremptory, averting any “attempt to weaken the services of the local hospital but only corrective ones to regularize care activities to guarantee the health needs of users of the Caltanissetta ASP who have equal dignity”. And he presses on Catania, pointing out the request as “a mere attempt to discredit the management of the ASP. Rather, the existence of ‘ghost’ services activated only on paper but never in reality was revealed.” Another issue on which the conflict has focused is the issue of nurses which has already been shaking the corridors of the hospital for months. By the way, Ficarra clarifies, “the transfer of the six nurses from Caltanissetta to Mussomeli took place on the basis of a non-existent motivation, in the current state of affairs, i.e. the reopening of a department which never actually took place. As has been repeatedly denounced by trade unions. Nonetheless, the Strategic Management has given an immediate mandate to the internal offices so that the two Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation departments are put in a position to resume regular activity within the limits set by the staffing”. Specifying, in the margin, that the mayor “appears to have been widely informed and notified of the corrective measures implemented”.
However, Catania declares himself “concerned” about the fate of the PO, as “the note from the ASP only confirms the fears I have already reported”. And, after specifying that he has “no interest in discrediting the ASP management”, he explains that “every request on his part was motivated only by the protection of the right to health of citizens of over 10 countries that gravitate towards MI Longo” . Furthermore, “it is understood that the revocation of the transfer of the personnel assigned to Mussomeli is to be considered definitive because they are supernumerary. This strongly contradicts the reassurances provided by the Strategic Management regarding the reopening of the two departments. I remember that the director of the unit and the general director, who have been in office for years, could have already taken steps in this regard, without an additional mandate to the internal offices”. And it raises the question, “practically, the two departments, it is thought, should be reopened with the same staff currently employed by the hospital”. This is the conclusion in summary.
“Having made these necessary considerations and expressing appreciation for all those relaunch interventions which, however, I do not consider to be among the priorities of the territories, I would like to point out that, far from fueling any sterile controversy, I nevertheless hope that the ASP Management will want to welcome the stimuli coming from representatives of the territory, with a view to a sharing policy that I have been pursuing for years as mayor and deputy to protect citizens”.
