"In my town we don't want that doctor, rather we are left without it and we will continue to turn to professionals from other neighboring municipalities, where my citizens are forced to move".
Speaking to ANSA is
Claudio Sartori, mayor of Valdastico, a small town of 1,120 inhabitants in the Alto Vicenza area,
on the slopes of the Asiago plateau,
where the return of Dr. Jamal Basal on March 1st
, announced in recent days by the Ulss, it is absolutely not welcome.
To the point that the mayor has already had the locks of the clinic changed, the windows blocked and is now threatening to have the entrance walled up.
"Precisely in these hours - he specifies - a collection of signatures has started in the town which, thanks to the help of councilors and councillors, but also of ordinary citizens who have made themselves available, will continue at a 'beating drum' in the next few days: the the intention is to deliver at least 500 signatures to the Ulss; if we remove the minors it means that a very large majority will join. I will deliver them by hand to the leaders of the Ulss".
The doctor has already worked in Valdastico from 2019 to 31 December 2022, and it was the Ulss itself that did not renew his contract after a series of protests, letters and unclear situations from a health point of view.
"We encountered the biggest problem within the Municipality's retirement home - continues Sartori - where it emerged that Doctor Basal did not want to interact with the female staff, a big problem because the director and coordinator are women, like 45 of the 50 employees. At that point we were forced to remove him and insert another professional into the elderly facility."
Meanwhile in the Municipality, over time, complaints of all kinds arrived at the mayor himself and at the Local Health Authority itself, including health-related ones: "When Doctor Basal arrived in the town he was assigned almost 1,200 patients, when he left they only had 400 left; the others, even with sacrifices related to travel, had chosen doctors from neighboring centers. A spontaneous committee was also created in the town, coordinated by a citizen who wanted to give a further strong signal. I hope that the situation be resolved; it is good for everyone that this happens. A huge fuss is being created, this morning two television crews arrived at the Town Hall, all of Italy is talking about it. We simply ask that Doctor Basal be sent to another municipality", he concludes .
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