Most esteemed Mr. Luigi Icardi, Councilor for Health of the Piedmont region

Most esteemed Mr. Luigi Icardi,

Health Councilor of the Piedmont region

In 2019 I voted for the centre-right, I confess, and in recent years I have been satisfied with the choice made for at least five/ten minutes. In fact, there was a moment when I was even proud! It was when, during the “pandemic”, it seemed to me that you distanced yourself a little from the single dominant thought! But it was a flash! The establishment of the USCA was a brilliant idea! It’s a shame that it was entrusted to newly graduated staff with no experience! I can assure you of this from direct experience. The first time they came to our house there was an expert doctor with a very young colleague. The second time there were two new graduates who, by their own admission, were “learning” to use the portable ultrasound machine they were equipped with!

When, a few weeks ago, I saw the election flyers with his face and name, I was amazed! I wondered how courageous he was in standing for re-election given the conditions of the provincial healthcare system (I live in the province of Cuneo)! But perhaps this was precisely his aim: to undermine the public health system to the advantage of the private one, and therefore he is rightly now putting himself forward again in the elections! Maybe to complete the work!

I don’t know her personally and therefore she may be a good person, which does not mean competent in the matter, even if she boasts a very respectable “curriculum” in the health sector as an ASL official. This is what Mr. GOOGLE tells me! And my words will surely seem like baseless, spiteful words to you. This is because when you or someone in your circle of friends goes to the ASL to book a visit, they are probably treated with kid gloves. But a mere mortal who needs to book a specialist visit or an exam must prepare for months, if not years, of waiting in clinics located kilometers and kilometers away from his residence.

I tell you this from personal experience. Last summer my primary care doctor ordered an ultrasound on my right ankle. I went to the ASL desk a few times and the answer was always the same: June/July 2024 in Novara. My daughter was prescribed a head MRI “urgently” in January 2024. They still have to call her now!

A few months ago the “governor” Mr. Cirio “strutted his stuff” (excuse the ornithological term) because Piedmont had found the algorithm to reduce waiting queues! If he had asked me I would have told him straight away how in Cuneo people have worked hard to shorten the waiting lists! They are called: CIDIMU (which recently expanded its premises for visits and diagnostic laboratories), CDC, European Medical Center.……….. In short, those who can pay resort to private healthcare; the others…………

A few days ago you yourself boasted to your political competitor in the elections by displaying a series of numbers of hospital beds increased by the current regional administration. Definitely a “success”! But do hospitalized patients have any hope of being cured? Is there staff or do you continue with “pay-as-you-go” staff who cost an arm and a leg in public money, i.e. our money, taxpayers’ money, and are not always adequately trained?

In about twenty days we will go back to voting. Please, Mr. Icardi, give me, I won’t say ten or even five, but two, TWO reasons why I should trust you again! Not promises, facts already achieved which speak in favor of him, in favor of his actions during these five years of government! Facts that benefit “normal” patients, because if we open the chapter on rare diseases………. I’m sorry, but he doesn’t pass the exam! What have you done for people with Ehlers Danlos? Oh yes, I have a daughter with Ehlers Danlos syndrome. Regional health system: NOT RECEIVED! And the same goes for all the other rare syndromes which are often perfectly unknown to healthcare professionals!! For example, Ehlers Danlos has never heard of it, even though I understand that there are around a hundred people in Piedmont who suffer from it!

I await your kind response

Brunella Rosano

PS: if you really can’t find two reasons, one is enough for me!

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the person responsible for this blog. The contributions published on this blog, considered worthy of importance, have the sole and exclusive purpose of making people reflect, fueling the debate and deepening reality. If the authors of the articles relaunched here do not like the publication, they just have to let me know. Items will be deleted immediately.