A piece of news that needs to be reread twice to understand if the content has been understood well and, in any case, one thinks more of an error of an automatism that makes no exceptions of any kind, rather than a true human choice. Nevertheless, Vito Procacci, former director of the emergency room of the Bari Polyclinic, who during the most difficult months of the pandemic saved the lives of around 8.600 patients, of which 1.600 were mechanically ventilated, the fine from the Labor Inspectorate of the Apulian capital saw it coming for real.
So, a decision made by real people or the application of an algorithm that looks no further? The ones who received the sanction were both director Procacci and his colleagues, directors of intensive departments, always busy during the Covid period. The fine that Procacci would have to pay is equal to 27.100 €. The dehumanization of working relationships has reached its new peak.
Procacci still does not want to believe that he will have to resort to the intervention of lawyers (the Polyclinic has challenged the assessment notice), which is why he has written to the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. The letter says: “After all the commitment made by me and my wonderful team in proudly contributing to providing an essential service to citizens, in the name of the Hippocratic Oath and Article 32 of the Constitution, I entrust you with all my bitterness, the disappointment and dismay at the treatment received from a State that I love but in which today I struggle to recognize myself. In recent days, my colleagues and I, directors of intensive departments, involved in the Covid period, were shocked to have received a heavy and paradoxical administrative sanction from the local labor inspectorate. All this, for having fulfilled our inevitable duty as healthcare workers during the tragic period of the Covid emergency.
The comment of the President of the Bari Medical Association, Philip Rings: “We are incredible. Instead of thanking health workers for working beyond their normal hours in a time of great emergency, doctors are sanctioned for working too much overtime. There is no doubt that workers' rights must always be defended and working hours must be adapted to current legislation. But we were faced with one exceptional situation. Where was the labor inspectorate when, well before the pandemic, we were reporting staff shortages? And where is he now? Why don't they send an inspection today to the Brindisi hospital or to certain departments of the Polyclinic? Let us then have the courage to close hospitals that have such staff shortages that it is impossible for doctors to carry out their work in compliance with the rules. I express my solidarity with my colleague Procacci, his staff and all the other colleagues who received the sanction. Thanks to all the doctors who gave their availability in that dramatic moment for the country. I'll hear the Minister of Labor on this issue – adds Anelli – because it is not acceptable that on the one hand the State awards doctors the Gold Medal for Public Health for having put patient care first and then sanctions them for working too much at a time of emergency".
