The new intensive care department of the Perrino hospital, costing 2,200,000 eurosis ready to open its doors, but will remain closed until further notice because not even a watt of energy flows through the electrical system cables. There is no electricity even to turn on a light bulblet alone to power the complex machinery and energy-intensive devices necessary to save human lives.
Has anyone forgotten that the department needs electricity to function? It would seem that the technicians, during the design, were aware of this, so much so a massive upgrade of the existing network was envisaged, necessary to power the operational unit with its 23 beds. Work planned, but it is not known whether it was ever planned and included in an economic framework. Certainly indispensable, because it is not possible to draw further power from the Perrino network. But then why spend 2,200,000 euros to create a brand new department, even knowing that it would be destined to remain closed due to lack of electricity? It would seem like one of the many wastes of the regional health service. Or a paradox resulting from the abstruse mechanisms of bureaucracy. Maybe it’s both.
General manager clueless
The fact is, according to what was communicated to the Corriere by the desks of the institutional communications office, that the general director of the Brindisi ASL, Maurizio De Nuccio, was in the dark about everything. The health company does not deny the impasse, but for the moment, despite being asked, it does not even provide explanations. What is known is that the works concern a renovation project of some areas on the fifth floor of the Perrino hospital, namely blocks «D0» and «D1». In these environments the beds of the current intensive care unit should be transferred and integrated by others until reaching the expected number of 23 intensive care places. The programmatic scope is that of the reorganization of the hospital network provided for by Legislative Decree 34 of 2020, converted with amendments by Law 77 of 2020.
No testing
The lack of electricity in the department has so far also prevented the testing and positioning of the beds. At present, the works concerning approximately two thirds of the beds have been completed and, according to what is learned from the technicians, the department could have been opened, even if only partially, if there had not been the inconvenience of the total lack of electricity. In more detail, the works have been completed in the «D1» block, while in the «D0» block work continues with the aim of closing the construction site and delivering the work by next December. But the forecasts are not rosy, again according to what is filtered by the ASL.
Not even a bed
In fact, once the works are completed (by the end of 2024), it does not seem possible to activate even a single bed space. The strengthening of the intensive care unit required a robust increase in electrical power, which was in fact not available. A need that was very clear to the technicians, but perhaps not to those who should have monitored the state of the art of the works to ensure synchrony between the setting up of the 23 intensive care beds and the adaptation of the energy supply systems. The two projects, however, would have been split at the origin, and intended to go to tender separately. But one thing is certain: of electricians, at least so far, there hasn’t even been a shadow of electricians at Perrino. And the shiny new Intensive Care Unit seems destined to remain closed, shrouded in total darkness for who knows how long.
