Emergency at Cardarelli: patients in the corridors, exhausted staff. The complaint: “Conditions like a war hospital”

Naples – The Short Intensive Observation (OBI) of the hospital emergency room Cardarelli of Naples is collapsing.

A critical situation, reported by patients and operators, who describe a dramatic picture: overcrowded wards, patients crowded together in the corridors, a lack of healthcare personnel and renovation works in progress that further worsen the already precarious conditions

. “It feels like being in a war hospital,” is the bitter observation of those who live this emergency on a daily basis.

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Corridors transformed into wards, zero privacy

The OBI, designed to accommodate a limited number of patients for short-term observation, has now become a makeshift hospital ward. The rooms are overflowing, the corridors have been adapted to accommodate beds and stretchers, while the patients, many of whom are in critical condition, are forced to endure deafening noise and constant discomfort due to the work in progress.

“There is no privacy, there are no lockers or bathrooms in the room,” says a patient who documented the situation. “We are crowded together like in a trench, with long corridors transformed into wards. People are trying to adapt, but it is really difficult.”

Staff at the end of their tether, the weakest without assistance

The healthcare staff, including doctors, nurses and operators, is reduced to the bare minimum and forced to deal with an unsustainable amount of work.

“They do everything they can, but there are too many people and the weakest are left without water and food,” the patient explains. The shortage of nurses, in particular, makes it impossible to guarantee adequate care for everyone, despite the heroic efforts of the team. “They are exhausted,” confirms the deputy of the Green-Sinister Alliance Francesco Emilio Borrelli, who spoke on the issue. “We need new staff, because those who are there are now few and at the end of their strength.”

Politics intervenes (again)

Borrelli, after listening to the patients' testimonies, announced a new intervention to try to resolve the emergency. "We are very worried," he declared. "The citizens, and especially the patients, are exasperated and tired. This situation is no longer sustainable." The request is clear: additional resources and personnel are needed to deal with an emergency that, day after day, is taking on increasingly dramatic contours.

Meanwhile, at Cardarelli they continue to work amidst the noise of construction sites and the emergencies of a hospital at the limit of its capacity. A situation that, without immediate intervention, risks turning into an unprecedented health crisis.