CREMONA – The construction of the new hospital (and the healthcare front in general) forcefully enters the debate of the electoral campaign and once again offers the different visions of the two mayoral candidates who will face each other in the run-off on Sunday and Monday. Alexander Portesani, aspiring first citizen of the centre-right, remains cautious: “As the centre-right we are not against it – he explains -, but six thousand people from Cremona have instead expressed their dissent and I think it is right to confront them”. However, he has no doubts Andrew Virgil, leader of the centre-left: «We have always considered the creation of the new center a great opportunity for the whole territory and we are not changing our minds. However, the path must be followed step by step. And the Region must maintain the commitment made in relation to the Level II DEA.”
PORTESANI’S LINE: «I’M NOT AGAINST, BUT I LISTEN TO THOSE WHO ARE»
The centre-right candidate Alessandro Portesani, starts from a premise: «We know very well how the issue of the new hospital is a very divisive topic in the city». And then he gets to the point: «We reiterate that as the centre-right we are not against the construction of a new hospital and investments in healthcare. However, as is our style unlike the Galimberti/Virgilio council, we listened to the different opinions. For us, this comparison is a fundamental way of operating to administer the city and not that of creating conflicts as the candidate Virgilio did”.
The divergence is plastic: the centre-right Region has reiterated its desire to build a new hospital; but six thousand people from Cremona expressed their opposition in a public document.
«And so it is right – Portesani is open to discussion – that citizens can represent their position directly to the Region. For this reason, during his visit to Cremona, I obtained reassurances from the president of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana, who will meet those citizens who have expressed opinions that are not favorable to the new hospital. It is not enough to have written ‘democrats’ in the name: you must also be so in concrete terms and in reality.”
Then there are many technical issues that need to be addressed together beyond the simple property. «The first and most important is the guarantee of the presence of specialist, medical and paramedical staff in the new structure. The introduction of new technologies that can combat even the most serious pathologies: with the exact same innovative characteristics, thus projecting the new hospital into the future. They want to mention the technologically advanced systems for surgery and treatments. The comfort that every patient is entitled to.”
Connected to this theme is inevitably that of basic healthcare. «Covid has taught us how fundamental it is for citizens’ needs. A fundamental aspect that must not be overlooked and on which the State and the Region are working to resolve the main critical issues. I want to underline an aspect that is particularly close to my heart because in the end I look at the life of the ‘normal’ Cremonese, without useless flights of fancy. I will be very careful about timing. We know well that there will be inconveniences. Those who will have to put up with the patients for at least eight, even ten years, between the construction site for the new construction and then another three years for the demolition of the previous one.” The final promise: «If I am elected mayor, I will not allow even more difficulties to be created for citizens who, being in a health facility, may already suffer from this operation. It’s a commitment I’ll make right away.”
VRIGILIO’S COMMITMENT: «GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR THE WHOLE TERRITORY»
The center-left mayoral candidate starts from the front of the new hospital and broadens his reasoning Andrew Virgil. The new hospital: «The point is not to divide between those in favor and those against, but to consolidate a process of listening and discussion with all the subjects involved starting, naturally, with health workers and those who live in those spaces every day” is the route traced by the aspiring mayor. Which, not surprisingly, in recent weeks, has taken note of the new management’s willingness to make itself available to the area.
«Precisely to encourage a process that seems to me to be declinable already now: the administration of the capital municipality must facilitate the involvement of other bodies, the various stakeholders and the citizens of Cremona. We have always been convinced of the opportunity of this new structure. We are aware that even in Cremona healthcare construction involves important structural interventions and that an intervention on the existing one risks extending times and inconveniences”.
However, there is another relevant aspect: the route. «It will have to lead to a new structure and must go hand in hand with our hospital’s acquisition of the second level DEA. We are therefore awaiting the commitment that governor Attilio Fontana made during the presentation of the project for the new hospital in Cremona, when he said that it is ‘only a question of time, but soon we will be able to give a positive answer'” . Alongside this path, “which must also be monitored from a technical point of view, because it will be an impressive construction site with significant repercussions on the sector”, the equally strategic theme of local healthcare.
«The Lombardy Region – still addressing the regional level, Virgilio -, also in light of the Covid experience, must invest in territorial garrisons, community hospitals, community homes. In Lombardy, most of the community homes were placed in existing structures, mainly former outpatient clinics. It means that the Lombardy Region has opted for a reorganization of the services already available, rather than investing in the creation and implementation of new organizational models oriented towards an interdisciplinary approach, working in multi-professional teams and taking real charge of the health needs of citizens in the areas in which they were placed. Instead, we need to ensure that significant investments can promote better integration between health, social and socio-health services.” The former Inam: «In that sector we must open a discussion table regarding the prospects, to understand how to enhance this important garrison for the city».
