Chronicle / Sondrio and belt Friday 06 September 2024
The new clinic in the former headquarters of the workers’ social cooperative has been ready for two years, but remains empty. Mayor Sertorio is concerned: “The problem is linked to the lack of doctors”
Adding insult to injury to Bianzone. A medical clinic that was closed a couple of years ago – in the former headquarters of the workers’ social cooperative – has remained empty. The young general practitioner Terzio Righini has resigned from his position and, thus, the citizens of Bianzone – not all of them, of course, we are talking about 1300 patients – find themselves without a general practitioner.
A situation of extreme fragility in the field of assistance that is affecting, as is known, the entire district of Tirano. In Bianzone the bitterness is great, however. Someone even aired the idea of starting a signature collection, but then they changed their minds because the problem is that there are no general practitioners against whom the weapons are few.
“In the past, the medical clinic was located above the library in front of the schools, but then we moved it to Piazza Ezio Vanoni, next to the pharmacy,” explains the mayor, Christian Sertorio. “We demolished the former cooperative and built a new two-story building. The problem is that now we are left without a family doctor and, therefore, the clinic is currently empty. Some citizens of Bianzone are assisted by other doctors in the area, while those who are currently uncovered turn to the temporary medical clinic at the community home, the former hospital in Tirano, where the service is provided five days a week by four doctors on rotation and two others as support.”
Mayor Sertorio does not hide his concern, which he expressed by contacting the interim director of the complex organizational unit of the Alta Valtellina territorial area, Vittorio Colombini. “It was confirmed to me that the problem is linked to the lack of doctors,” Sertorio continues. “I proposed activating a sort of branch of the temporary medical clinic in Tirano, but it is impossible at the moment. We are trying to understand what we can do in the face of this difficult situation that concerns not only Bianzone, but the entire district of Tirano. The municipal pharmacy gives us a hand in this sense, helping the elderly who have greater difficulties, but clearly it cannot replace the service of a general practitioner.”
We also need to understand how to use the brand new spaces of the clinic, whether we can first find a new doctor or whether we can activate an outpatient assistance service with some specialist, a bit like what happens, for example, in Castello dell’Acqua.
The health issue was recently discussed in the city council in Tirano with the interpellation presented by the minority group leader, Marco Agutoli, who branded Asst’s behavior as “inefficiency” and “short-sighted”, given that the retirement of some doctors was known in advance and asked the mayor, as the highest local health authority, to urgently make his voice heard in the appropriate rooms, protecting the health of citizens. The mayor of Tirano, Stefania Stoppani, has taken action with Asst for the solution of the temporary laboratory and has guaranteed that she will continue to monitor the situation, updating the council and citizens on this issue.