Trapani healthcare faces crisis due to medical staff shortages

Cristina Ciminnisi, a regional deputy for the Movimento 5 Stelle, has warned that the public healthcare system in the province of Trapani is collapsing. According to Ciminnisi, emergency rooms are operating with only about 30 doctors despite a requirement for 80, leaving a deficit of approximately 50 medical professionals.

The deputy criticized the local health authority (Asp di Trapani) for failing to implement long-term strategies to make local hospitals more attractive to staff, noting that calls for temporary professional contracts often go unfilled. This shortage has reportedly placed unsustainable workloads on permanent doctors and forced some citizens to seek private care or forgo treatment entirely.

In addition to staffing shortages, Ciminnisi highlighted a significant backlog in medical services, citing nearly 24,000 pending procedures, including over 7,000 in diagnostic imaging. She also called for transparency regarding delays in delivering histological reports and criticized regional Health Assessor Caruso for failing to address the growing crisis.