There are those who during working hours, while cancer patients were waiting to be examined, went shopping, to repair the car at the mechanic, to shop at the supermarket or a quiet trip to the sea. There are even those who had a second job instead of staying in the ward. A maxi investigation by the Rome Public Prosecutor’s Office uncovered a (almost perfect) system of false stamping and fictitious attendance at the Ifo. Doctors and nurses supported each other to stamp the card in place of the colleague and make him appear on duty. Prosecutor Alessandra Fini investigated 89 retired employees or former employees of the Hospitaller Physiotherapy Institutes, the public legal entity that since 1939 manages the Regina Elena National Cancer Institute and the San Gallicano Dermatological Institute. The accusation, depending on the positions, is of forgery and aggravated and continued fraud against a hospital institution financed by the Ministry of Health and Lazio region.
THE COMPLAINT
The disputed conduct took place in the pre-Covid period, from October 2018 to June 2019. The investigation, delegated to the carabinieri, started with a complaint presented by the Ifo, the injured party in this affair. “We are waiting to know how the investigations by the judiciary will be concluded before taking any disciplinary measures”, the hospital communication managers inform “Il Messaggero”. To bring to light this system of complicity, hidden cameras were installed near the stamping devices. Only in this way was it possible to discover that, often, it was not the holder of the card who “begged”, but a colleague of him. A further response was obtained thanks to stalking, GPS signals left by mobile phones and cars, and telephone records.
THE VIROLOGIST
In the list of suspects – who were subjected to interrogation between July and October last – there are 22 medical executives, 2 biologist executives, 44 nurses, 14 radiologist technicians, a socio-health worker, a physiotherapy technician and 5 administrative assistants. An infectious disease specialist also appears in the list of white coats, interviewed several times during the pandemic and more recently for monkeypox, who did not want to provide “Il Messaggero” with further explanations: “I await the outcome of the investigations”, he cut short.
Among the disputed conduct, there are also cases in which employees switched from the public regime to private visits (for a fee) in intramoenia without stamping the exit card. «To do a CT scan you work as a crew, including a doctor, radiologist, nurse, administrative employee. To do it first, one would go to stamp for all four. It is incorrect behavior, but it is not a crime, ”explains a former manager. “My clients, in the only disputed case, were operating: to save time, the surgeon also went to stamp for the anesthetist, while she was putting the patient to sleep,” explains the lawyer Giuseppina Tenga. A similar situation had also occurred for the doctors defended by the lawyer Ippolita Naso.
© breaking latest news