“We express full solidarity with city councillor Gaetano Orlando,” council majority leaders said after management criticized the emergency room director.
Management at the Asp health authority in Caltanissetta publicly attacked the head of the emergency room at Vittorio Emanuele hospital, prompting an immediate backlash from local political leaders and generating the full support of the entire council majority backing Mayor Terenziano Di Stefano. Gaetano Orlando serves as both the director of the medicine and surgery acceptance and urgency unit at the hospital and as the Democratic Party group leader on the city council.
The public clash centers on chronic staffing shortages and operational strain at the Vittorio Emanuele facility and the Caposoprano hospital. Council leaders from the Five Star Movement, Una Buona Idea, Mpa, and the Democratic Party defended Orlando’s dual advocacy for patients and medical staff.
The Asp management issued a public statement targeting Orlando over ongoing difficulties within the emergency department. Council leaders condemned the timing and method of the health authority’s announcement and reiterated the positions already expressed by Mayor Terenziano Di Stefano.
“We consider serious and inappropriate the method used to address such a delicate issue, through a public stance that ends up singling out the emergency room director,” the council majority representatives said.
The statement argued that shifting public attention onto an individual physician ignores structural deficiencies across the regional healthcare network. Leaders said that department directors manage available resources but lack the authority to independently recruit personnel or launch hiring competitions, and it is necessary to remember that the organizational competencies of an operational unit director do not coincide with those of the corporate management.
Local officials emphasized that the health authority itself acknowledged recruitment hurdles in its own communications. Several recent job postings failed to draw candidate applications, forcing the agency to temporarily deploy doctors from other facilities.
“The same Asp, in its own statement, recognizes that recruitment procedures have encountered difficulties,” the council majority said. Elected officials questioned why management chose to publicly expose the emergency room director rather than focus entirely on resolving the long-standing crisis.
“We will not allow the battle for the defense of the Vittorio Emanuele to be transformed into a personal matter and the priority remains one alone, to guarantee citizens the right to safe, efficient and dignified healthcare assistance,” the council leaders concluded.
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