The electoral campaign that Alessio D’Amato has carried out in recent months has been centered on what he himself, slightly praising himself, wanted to define as “the excellence of healthcare” in Lazio, accompanied by good administration during the emergency of the pandemic. Too bad that the candidate for the presidency of the Lazio Region for the Democratic party he forgot some not exactly irrelevant details that directly concerned the councilorship he has led in the last five years: some unclear points have in fact remained outstanding and, over time, the knots have come home to roost.
Tax damages requested from Zingaretti and D’Amato
Covid has allowed the health assessor to gain a certain popularity even among those who were unaware of its existence. Also because Rome was the first European city to be hit by the virus – just over three years ago – with the hospitalization of the couple of Chinese tourists who had been rushed to the Spallanzani hospital and masterfully treated by all the medical staff . Many observers had praised the management of the Region led by Nicola Zingaretti, also due to the vaccination plan developed at the beginning of 2021. The problem is that, even during the most acute phases of the Coronavirus, not everything went exactly for the best. Just think of the tax damage from beyond 11 million euros for which the Court of Auditors accused the governor – together with the head of the Civil Protection – due to the assignments for the supply of about 7.5 million partially paid masks that never arrived.
Still speaking of the Court of Auditors, D’Amato himself was sentenced to pay compensation 275 thousand euros. The story concerns the “Fondazione Italia – Amazzonia onlus” association, of which the dem exponent was founder, vice president and honorary president, which was the recipient of 275 thousand euros – through two loans – for the promotion program of “initiatives of social, cultural and sporting character of particular interest for the region”. It was therefore necessary, with that money, to carry out research projects and valorisation of the cultures of the Amazonian peoples. And, instead, citizens’ money has been used to support, unduly, “the political activity and electoral propaganda carried out by the Red Green-European Left association, which during the period in question expressed its candidates in the political elections of 9-10 April 2006 and in the municipal elections of 29-29 May 2006”.
The collapse of Lazio health care
Once the Covid emergency was over, the return to normalcy still brought the disasters in Lazio healthcare to light again. The situation is certified by the new annual report which evaluates regional performance drawn up by the Center for Applied Economic Research (Crea) Sanità. According to this report, in fact, the state of health of Lazio healthcare continues to worsen, which collapsed in just one year from the tenth to fourteenth place. Lazio, by now, is dangerously close to the “critical area” of the six worst regions in terms of the quality of care and “avoidable” mortality. A report that matches the Governance poll published by Il Sole 24 Ore which sees the Lazio region in the penultimate place in terms of approval rating (only Molise does worse).
A collapse of Lazio healthcare and certified by the Center for Applied Economic Research (Crea) Sanità that doesn’t surprise Lazio citizens, who see with their own eyes, on a daily basis, the extra-Covid bankruptcy management of councilor D’Amato. Just a few days ago, moreover, the images of the emergency room of theSant’Andrea hospital of Rome that are circulating on the web in these hours. Patients without stretchers lying on the floor, in the middle of the corridor and with IVs attached to their arms, and a series of people waiting to be treated. The hospital staff explained that the patient filmed while lying on the ground was a blue code, therefore he was not in serious condition and that, although he had been provided with a seated position, he would have chosen to lie down on the ground of his own free will. However, the logistical and organizational difficulties of the structure that have lasted for some time are not denied. And not just at Sant’Andrea.
The refusal of the 5 Stars to support the commissioner
In his candidacy for president of the Lazio Region, also supported by the Third Pole, Alessio D’Amato then tried everything to break the alliance with the Calendian and Renzian front. His constant flirting with the 5 Star Movement, who was implored up to the last possible moment by the exponent of the Democratic Party to provide the latter with unified yellow and red support, stirred the waters within the walls of the political movement of Carlo Calenda and Matteo Renzi. The interview attempt was not successful. Also because Giuseppe Conte’s party will never be able to ally with Action and Italia Viva; and in the end, in fact, he turned towards the solitary candidacy of Donatella Bianchi. The appeal to five-star voters to exercise the “useful vote” – even via the disjointed one – was the last minute desperate card. And so Francesco Rocca and all the center-right rub their hands: galvanized on the one hand by the internal strife of the center-left and on the other by the disasters of the Zingaretti-D’Amato duo in recent years in Lazio.