We had no doubts about the hyper-liberal alignment of the Democratic Party in all its territorial expressions, and therefore we are not surprised by the position it has taken on the Stadium – Terni private clinic agreement.
In a short but highly revealing statement full of contortions, the Umbrian Democratic Party opens with a telling declaration: “we have always been in favour of the construction of the new stadium and the clinic in Terni, an important and strategic project…”. This statement stands in sharp contrast with its electoral campaign, which was built around the defence of public healthcare as a primary objective for relaunching a region in structural collapse. After promises of restructuring the Local Health Authorities and hospital trusts, after fantastising about hundreds of new hires and an imminent innovative Social and Health Plan, we are faced once again with a party subservient to predatory private interests. A party that, in collusion and continuity with the much-criticised (in words) centre-right, has pushed Umbrian healthcare from being a national benchmark region to a condition of passivity in health mobility and an exodus of professionals towards the private sector or towards more efficient public systems in other regions.
This subordination to the populist and speculative project through which Bandecchi has built his electoral campaign shows the inability of its cadres and elected representatives, often overlapping figures, to break with the conservative drift that has affected the Democratic Party since its very birth.
The “territorial rebalancing” demanded by local business circles in Terni is in reality a reckless process of privatisation of public healthcare. Alongside the proliferation of dozens of clinics and rehabilitation facilities across the territory, it goes hand in hand with the dismantling of public structures, community health centres, laboratories and regional hospitals, through the programmed reduction of resources. This is a process of massive transfer of public funds to private healthcare, swelling private profits at the expense of entire categories of citizens forced to choose between paying for treatment or renouncing care. It feeds on endless waiting lists, cases left without resolution, and the systematic resort to the generously paid private sector to solve a problem that has been artificially created.
What is needed are substantial hirings of specialists, healthcare staff, and technical-administrative personnel in order to relaunch public facilities. Yet this is not being done, not even to replace staff retiring or those who, quite legitimately, driven away by the prospect of wages kept at derisory levels (also thanks to the disgraceful signing of the latest, miserable national collective labour agreement, already expired, by the usual suspects), move to other employers. Those who remain in the public facilities are forced into double shifts, to accumulate unused holidays, and to face the anger of users, who are confronted with downgraded services and missed appointments, cut hospital beds, and services reduced to the bare minimum.
We do not need yet another private profiteer who offloads business risk onto taxpayers’ shoulders, especially when the clinic has not even started operating. It is time to drastically cut agreements with private providers and use those funds to hire specialists and stabilise staff across the sector. It is time to give substance to Community Houses, avoiding the creation of the usual empty shells designed for ribbon-cutting ceremonies. Investment is needed in personnel, equipment and research, and only then will our public healthcare system regain the dignity that today’s “democrats” have sold off to the lowest bidder.
Communist Front – Perugia Federation
17/11/2025
