Calabria? A mafia hub that hires Cuban doctors because the Italians avoid the region. Thus the Times headlined an online article by Tom Kington, about the 497 specialists recruited on the Caribbean island by Governor Roberto Occhiuto, following an agreement signed with the Comercializadora de Servicios Medicos Cubanos, to stop the serious suffering of the system health and make up for the lack of personnel: so far all the calls launched by the Region have been deserted.
The Times headline sparked an uproar. And it was immediately rectified: no longer “Mafia hub hires cuban doctors as Italy’s medics shun region”, as was first reported on the website of the British newspaper, but “Cuban doctors replace medics who shun Italian region’s mafia-riddled hospitals”, or “Cuban doctors replace doctors who avoid mafia hospitals in the Italian region.” Below a close-up of President Occhiuto.
Many have challenged the journalist for the expressions used, inappropriate and full of stereotypes. Kington apologized on Tweeter: «I totally agree. The title has been changed, ”he wrote. A change that in reality has changed little the substance of the message and the indignation has continued to mount. “It’s disconcerting. We are tired – the governor Roberto Occhiuto immediately commented – of these clichés. I am ready to denounce the British newspaper ».
To “inspire” the report of the English journalist, many statements by the former commissioner ad acta Massimo Scura, indicted for the alleged falsified financial statements of the Asp of Cosenza: Scura led the Calabrian healthcare from 2015 to 2018. Nor before him, much less during its management, and, to tell the truth, not even after, the situation has registered the slightest improvement (just remember the uselessness of the work by General Saverio Cotticelli who did not know he had to draw up the Covid plan, or that by Guido Longo, former prefect of Vibo Valentia, “fired” on the spot by the council of ministers): deficit over 100 million euros, closed garrisons, two ASPs dissolved due to the mafia, levels of assistance below the minimum threshold and passive mobility towards the hospitals of the North for 300 million euros.
With the appointment of Roberto Occhiuto, after 12 years of commissioner of the national government, health has returned to the region. It is objectively early to evaluate its work. The 497 Cuban doctors who will be integrated into structures and facilities starting in September are an extreme remedy. “Temporary,” emphasizes the governor. A move that even the unions do not like. But that, given the complex situation of Calabrian healthcare, including the “suffocating bureaucracy, incompetent local leaders appointed by politics and corruption”, as Kington writes, is not enough to brand all of Calabria as a Mafia hub.