Naples – One doctor for multiple wards, specialists unavailable, and high-quality departments closed. The healthcare system within the Poggioreale and Secondigliano penitentiaries is now nearing breaking point.
The alarm was raised by Samuele Ciambriello, Campania's guarantor of prisoners and spokesperson for the National Conference, who sent a harsh note to the General Director of the ASL Napoli 1, Gaetano Gubitosa, calling for immediate structural intervention for what he calls a "sacrifice of the right to health" guaranteed by the Constitution.
The dialysis center paradox and the costs of transfers
The most critical point concerns the Poggioreale dialysis center. Despite being considered a flagship facility for prison healthcare, the facility has been closed since last summer.
This paralysis not only undermines the continuity of patients' treatment, but also creates enormous costs and security risks: each inmate must be escorted to city hospitals three or four times a week, requiring up to four prison police officers for each individual trip.
"Diagnostics and clinical activity must proceed together," urges Ciambriello, who also strongly opposes the possible closure of the in-house analysis laboratory, which is essential for managing the clinical center's sixty patients.
Deserted corridors and lack of specialists
The staffing shortage is described as "chronic." Key figures such as cardiologists and orthopedists are lacking, while the radiology service operates intermittently. The Guarantor's complaint also points to staff drain: many doctors hired for prisons have reportedly been transferred elsewhere, leaving a single white coat to cover multiple wards at once.
Added to this is the absence, since last September, of a nursing coordinator, a key figure for the distribution of therapies which, according to the statement, does not always occur at the prescribed times.
Weekend isolation: the risk of suicide
The most heartfelt appeal, however, concerns mental health. On Saturdays and Sundays, Neapolitan prisons remain without psychologists from the Local Health Authority (ASL). "Especially on the most difficult days, there is a shortage of staff to interview new arrivals and implement suicide prevention strategies," explains Ciambriello. The Guarantor is calling for psychological support to be guaranteed seven days a week to avoid "serious and irreversible consequences."
Urgent requests sent to local health authorities also include the implementation of minor outpatient surgery and the resumption of physiotherapy, essential for inmates' rehabilitation in a context where physical and mental distress continues to grow despite institutional silence.
Source EDITORIAL TEAM
Comments (1)
It's important for the prison health system to function better, because inmates have a right to healthcare. But I wonder if the authorities are heeding Ciambriello's warning and what they intend to do to improve the situation.