«The “Perrino” neonatal intensive care unit is at risk of closing after its downgrading».
The alarm was raised by Luca Ghezzani, FP CGIL coordinator for doctors and managers, who wrote to the leaders of the Brindisi local health authority and to the president of the Conference of Mayors. The specter is the definitive closure of the NICU and the neonatal unit of the hospital.
«The NICU, the flagship of the ASL despite the absence of a birth analgesia service – recalls Ghezzani – was weakened about a year ago due to the very serious shortage of medical staff specialized in pediatrics and ultra-specialised in neonatology. A weakening which, in fact – he stigmatizes – was a substantial closure of a facility equipped with staff capable of saving even immature and premature babies even 25 weeks old. This closure, naturally, has resulted in nothing more than passive mobility towards other local health authorities, phenomena of renunciation and self-exclusion from care, especially among those who cannot afford healthcare migration or the use of an always ready private service”.
On the horizon there would be the downgrading of the Neonatology Operational Unit to a first level birth center.
«A point which will in any case be understaffed and in turn at risk of permanent closure – hypothesizes the union representative – due to the upcoming retirement of the director and the voluntary withdrawal of another unit of medical staff who had recently been given a managerial role management. Despite the 2020 bankruptcy proceedings – he observes – only four units of management staff remained in active service (of which one unit was exempt from night work), while to guarantee the full enforceability of the right to health in safe conditions, the ASL , with the planning of the night and holiday watch service, should provide for the overall presence, on weekdays, of at least three managers during the morning time slot, at least two units during the afternoon time slot and at least one night watch unit”.
Hence the appeal «to trigger a virtuous circle that recovers attractiveness and security, to the rapid completion of insolvency procedures, to encourage and guarantee continuous training courses, to pay greater attention and speed in the reconstruction of careers and in the attribution of salary increases for managers and – concludes Ghezzani – conferring and valorising highly specialized and highly professional roles and not limiting oneself to the conferral of management positions”.
