“No to the closure of kitchens and hospitals, no to prepared and frozen meals, no to the transfer of kitchen workers”. The pro-hospital committee of San Severo Medicina Democratica’ opposes the attempt to centralize at a regional level the catering service for patients in all hospitals and inpatient facilities in Puglia.
A maxi contract worth over 372 million, which had already alarmed the trade unions in the past for various reasons. According to the representatives of the 5 Star Movement, Senator Gisella Naturale, MEP Mario Furore and MP Marco Pellegrini, “the issue relating to the dishes that are enjoyed by users, but several hours after preparation must be considered and this inevitably affects the palatability, if not the quality of the food distributed”.
The presence of a single cooking center is expected, in Foggia (Via San Severo or Villaggio Artigiani area), for the entire province with subsequent transport to the various health facilities, located several kilometers apart from each other. The disappointment of the three five-star members is a common feeling in Capitanata, as is the concern for this operation considered harmful to the community.
With this operation, the closure of the cooking centers of the hospitals of San Severo, Cerignola, Manfredonia, San Marco in Lamis, Monte SantAngelo and the Riuniti hospital in Foggia will be inevitable. The Committee has started a signature collection renamed ‘A signature for patients’ health’, with which, in addition to informing citizens, the cancellation of the contract and the convening of a single-issue service conference is requested.
The lunches, after preparation, would be frozen in a warehouse. Based on the request of the hospital facilities, a manager will collect them and deliver the dishes with a van the previous evening. During the night they will be defrosted, reheated and served in the morning: “We ask to continue cooking in hospitals.”
The Five Star Movement members are of the same opinion: “In addition to health problems, patients also have to swallow the ‘bitter pill’ of dishes cooked several hours before and frozen. It cannot be underestimated how much good food represents a “healing factor”. Yet, they add, “quality raw materials, not subjected to defrosting processes, traceable and – why not – zero kilometer, would represent the first prevention strategy for the most widespread pathologies, especially those of a chronic-degenerative nature. We believe that these concepts must be borrowed from local authorities, who have the duty to make sustainable, environmentally friendly, functional decisions from a structural, organizational and economic point of view”.
Furore, Naturale and Pellegrini advance the solution of internalizing the catering service, “which would also represent a panacea for the local economy and employment, because it would ensure support for companies” they highlight.
The closure of the kitchens of hospitals and inpatient facilities would mean around 1200 people “who in fact will no longer be needed, to the detriment of a service and without resulting in a useful saving” conclude the exponents of the M5S.
