After the stages of Olgiate Olona, Saronno, Samarate, Gallarate and Fagnano Olona, the tour of public meetings for the presentation arrives in Busto Arsizio of the reasons, contents and financing methods of the Extraordinary Appeal to the President of the Republic against the Program Agreement for the construction of the Busto-Gallarate single hospitalwhich was filed on 24 February 2024 by Medicina Democratica, the “G.Maccacaro” Health Center of Castellanza and by 38 citizens of the area.
Appointment Friday 24 May atat 9pm, in the parish hall of Beata Giuliana (for which the parish is thanked), «one step away from the forest that would be destroyed with the “new hospital”.
«Finally citizens will have the opportunity to be informed about the critical issues, highlighted in the appeal, of a decision taken without any involvement of the population and violating, in the opinion of the appellants, European, national and regional regulations regarding the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) and the right of public participation in decision-making processes”.
«After having denied the public debate (June 2021), an institution foreseen by the procurement code for works with investments exceeding 300 million euros, with the broken promise of activating other forms of discussion with the citizens, the city council of Busto Arsizio approved the Program Agreement for the construction of the single hospital (September 2023) and the mayor signed it (October 2023), thus endorsing a SEA procedure distorted by procedural defects, concealment of fundamental documents, failure to evaluate and counter-deduction of public observations and proposals, tampering with the environmental assessment of alternatives, circumvention of higher-level plans”.
“Actually the outcome of this procedure had been predetermined seven years ago: close the hospitals of Busto Arsizio and Gallarate to build a single one in Beata Giulianadestroying a protected forest of 65 thousand m2 and the green area in which it is located, totaling 167 thousand m2. In no way was the alternative considered in the Strategic Environmental Assessment of the modernization of the current hospitals which, according to the technicians who drafted the Feasibility Document of the Project Alternatives, would cost 284 million Euros, compared to the 440 million Euros needed for the single hospital”.
The appeal is therefore for the Committee the last possibility, on an administrative level, “to save the hospitals of Busto Arsizio and Gallarate and prevent the destruction of the Beata Giuliana forest”.
