(ANSA) – CAGLIARI, JUNE 04 – There is controversy in Sardinia over the decision of Areus, the regional emergency emergency company, to reduce the service of 118 doctors in the Cagliari-Uta prison from 24 to 12 hours a day. “A decision that has created great concern among the inmates, their families and the prison workers of the largest prison on the island”, reports Maria Grazia Caligaris, president of the Socialismo Diritti Riforme association. The president of the supervisory court of Cagliari, Maria Cristiana Ornano, intervened in the case and is considering a complaint to the prosecutor’s office. “We learn with great dismay that Areus has limited the first aid and rescue service in the Uta prison to the night hours, which has so far been ensured 24 hours a day by the 118 staff with more than appreciable results also due to their specific expertise – states Ornano -.
This is a decision which, in fact, interrupts for most of the day an essential public service, indispensable to guarantee adequate assistance and effective and timely intervention, especially in relation to the critical events which occur frequently in the prison and which can show up throughout the day. The choice, made without any prior discussion with the institutions responsible for the care and supervision of prisons and detained persons, does not take into account the concrete risks both for the protection of the health of detained persons and of penitentiary and civil police personnel, as well as all those who for various reasons access it daily (in total around 1500 people)”. The Sardinia Region is also against it. “Despite the request not to continue in this direction, the general director of Areus Simonetta Bettelini – we read in a note from The Department of Health – has decided to undertake this unilateral choice made autonomously without any authorization or provision from the Department which will therefore immediately proceed with an official warning. The department has not given any instructions to this effect and distances itself from this absolutely unshared position. We therefore invite the director to immediately revoke the provision”. (ANSA). .
