L’AQUILA – At the end of 2023 it seemed that by the first half of 2024 the triad at the head of the governance of the provincial health authority of L’Aquila, black shirt according to the centre-left oppositions in the Region in the health deficit with a minus 46 million euros of the approximately 122 of the entire sector, were to change completely and begin a new cycle: in fact, the general manager, Ferdinando Romano, 65-year-old Roman, was in the running to take on an important role in the capital, so much so that he did not participate in the call for ASL managers, opened and closed by the Region, highlighting his intention not to remain in Abruzzo, while his two top managers, the director healthcare Alfonso Mascitelli, 67 year old from Pescara, and the administrative director, Stefano Di Rocco, Marsicano of 62, had made it known that they wanted to leave the company having reached retirement age, respectively in the first and second semester.
Instead, then, there was a decisive about-face with a clear strategy of the three to remain at the helm of ASL 1 Abruzzo: but only for Mascitelli and Di Rocco did the operation succeed.
The chief, whose first three-year mandate expires next June, is left holding the bag in the sense that he does not yet have a viable prospect of remaining at the helm of the provincial health system as a certain and legitimate. Mascitelli and Di Rocco signed the contract renewal which was proposed and then corrected by the manager who risks being left at a standstill.
However, the very harsh words of the president of the regional council now weigh like stones, Lorenzo Sospiri, of Forza Italia, on the eve of today’s extraordinary session, which must approve a 68 million recovery plan, rejected in the first version by the auditors: “a serious and detailed reflection will begin on the performances of the four General Directors of our local health authorities, that is, the Regional Council no longer intends to act as a simple paper-passer of processes that we have not had the opportunity to evaluate from the beginning”, said the president, effectively attacking not only Ferdinando Romano, but also Thomas Schael, director of the ASL Lanciano-Vasto- Chieti, Maurizio di Giosia, Teramo, and Vero Michitelli for Pescara.
In the meantime, he plans to remain health director of ASL 1 Abruzzo for another three years. Mascitelli, former regional councilor and senator of the IDV, former director of the regional health agency at the time of the centre-left, arrived in L’Aquila out of ‘spite’ from the director at high altitude centre-right, Roberto Testa, then ousted by the president, Marco Marsilio, and by the majority who were confirmed for a second mandate, for the first time in history, at the helm of the Abruzzo Region.
The same will be done by the younger Di Rocco, who became a public manager very early in the Comunità Montana Valle Roveto, now in liquidation, and then the author, not without controversy, of an important rise in public health. Although, it must be said that the two are linked to Romano’s fate: with the end of the mandate and the arrival of a new general manager, their fresh contract could in fact be cancelled.
For Romano, who arrived in L’Aquila as part of the League and then fell into the good graces of FdI and Marsilio, the road becomes complicated, also because he is not registered in the register of general managers, updated with the latest announcement, and not can be chosen and admitted to the selection: according to what has been learned from well-informed sources within the majority, we are thinking of reopening the terms of the notice and then choosing Romano after the selection, provided that he is suitable, as happened for the general manager of the ASL of Teramo, Maurizio Di Giosia, replaced for a few weeks by the administrative director Franco Santarelli, while in L’Aquila the acting senior would be Mascitelli.
Or, regional bureaucrats, in particular the Health Department, would be studying the extension of the contract from three to five years, as a recently introduced rule would allow.
But, in addition to the procedural obstacles, there would be political vetoes to overcome: in fact, the esteemed hygiene teacher of “La Sapienza” in Rome would not be seen well by some of the big names in centre-right politics who were reconfirmed with important numbers in the elections of 10 March , first of all, the two influential Forza Italia supporters, the aforementioned Sospiri, but also the regional councilor for Labor from L’Aquila Roberto Santangelo, in his second mandate with over 10 thousand preferences, and the regional budget councilor, the Marsican Mario Quaglieri, of FdI, record holder of preferences with around 12 thousand votes, at the center of the controversy for the opposition’s complaint to the Anac for conflict of interests given that since the first election, in 2019, in addition to the important political role it has carried out the as a contract surgeon in private provincial clinics, a situation which is also being examined by the L’Aquila Public Prosecutor’s Office which has opened a case for now against unknown persons.
But this, always emerges from political circles, if the administrative path were found, would not be a problem since Marsilio, who is responsible among other things for signing the decrees appointing the general managers, in these first two months of his mandate bis he has already made his travel companions understand his weight as political ‘father-master’ and that he therefore decides without worrying about who doesn’t agree.
In this sense, certainly not the trusted councilor of the branch, Nicoletta Verì, former League, re-nominated and not elected on the President’s list, and then reappointed to the Council and with the same external delegation. Furthermore, the governor is even more motivated on this matter given that he would have received clear input from his man who left Rome.
In addition to Mascitelli and Di Rocco, more local and national managers are very interested in the fate of Romano, including important and esteemed managers from the Abruzzo region. In fact, he would be at the forefront for the important seat.
But everyone will have to take into account the desire of the three managers, very close to each other, who make up the current governance, to remain at the helm in a company often at the center of controversy from doctors, patients and unions, but above all torn apart by hacker attack on May 3rd last year which sent the IT system into a tailspin and created serious disruptions, which have not been completely resolved, for users and operators and for this very reason at risk of criminal and civil measures, in the latter case several million euros of compensation, due to patient complaints about the violation of privacy on sensitive health data and the huge fine from the privacy guarantor. (bs)
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