“The field hospital is useless: take it down”

by Francesco Pirisi

02 March 2021

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NUORO. The military field hospital, mounted on the courtyard of San Francesco, should have started and finished its service in the two weeks of opening last December. The prospect that, apart from the English variant, Covid-19 has exhausted the time of its maximum manifestation even in the province, is the first reason to sanction the futility of keeping it still under the hospital tower. But he is not the only one. “I think leaving it still mounted is only an increase in costs that the public purse should save,” says Giorgio Mustaro, secretary of the public service of the Nuorese CISL. The structure was erected last autumn and was expected to guarantee 20 places between intensive and sub-intensive care. The choice was made by the Region, to cope with the emergency that in the autumn in Nuoro and in the territory recorded the percentage of growth in infections among the highest on the island. The marquee was raised in the last days of October, but it was put into operation only on 10 December. “If the solution in itself could also be good – comments Mustaro – what did not work on the part of the regional authorities, health and non-health, was the preparation of the field complex. Let us remember – he continues – that at the beginning it did not work because it was not equipped and because of the lack of staff. Then it became clear that these were not the only limits – says Mustaro -, considering that it was closed because it was not heated sufficiently, just two weeks after it went into operation ».

The field hospital was the gift of a Dutch multinational to the Italian Red Cross. The first to be assembled in Italy, during the pandemic. In all, 300 square meters covered by awnings. Two hospital rooms, divided for men and women, but also the space for the acceptance of patients. The operating system is among the most advanced, as reported in May a year ago by the administrators of the Region and by the Civil Protection, at the time of presentation at the Cagliari Fair: “The structure – these are the accompanying words to the first exit – represents a mobile pole of excellence, with negative pressure environments. It will be able to accommodate, as needed, up to 20 patients, in intensive or sub-intensive care, or, alternatively, even non-Covid patients “. A military facility in aid of a territory that the epidemic has found vulnerable in health facilities as the disease progresses. A war situation. And in some way it will also be confirmed by the fact that a dozen doctors with stars will arrive to manage health care, and as many professionals including nurses and Oss. «Given the events, starting with the delays that anticipated his arrival in Nuoro, as well as the subsequent results – it is still the thought of the trade unionist – one cannot but conclude that it was a botched solution. The 400 thousand euros spent – he added – could be used to enhance services at the San Francesco or in the area, to cope with the spread of the virus “. Mustaro again: «It occupies half the parking space and hinders cars and pedestrians. It certainly also spends on maintenance. What do you expect to take it apart? “

In the meantime, the virus moves back in a consistent way also in the Nuorese Assl. The weekly numbers say it: from 600 cases in December, they have dropped to 60 in the last few weeks. So much so that the health management has decided to close one of the Covid departments of San Francesco, set up on the 11th floor, in the rooms that have always been of the geriatrics. The ward on the tenth floor remains active, where the 30 patients infected with the virus go (there were 63 on critical days) ».

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