'Lights and celebrations yes, but treatments no': in Campania, the health system is forgetting half a million diabetics.

Naples – While the Campania Region is allocating approximately €7 million to finance the Christmas holidays in provincial capitals, half a million diabetic patients risk having their visits paid for or blocked as early as November 1st. The political and social controversy surrounding the management of healthcare spending caps has erupted into a heated debate between the opposition in the Regional Council and the government led by Roberto Fico, who also holds the Health Department.

Holiday spending and the healthcare crisis

The contrasting spending decrees recently put the regional administration's priorities back in the spotlight. For Christmas event posters in the regional capitals, €2,78 million has been allocated to the Municipality of Naples, €610 to Avellino, €550 to Benevento, and €480 to Caserta. These resources are in addition to the €2,75 million already earmarked for Salerno in September and the €14,5 million mega-budget earmarked for smaller municipalities.

On the healthcare front, however, the news for patients is very different. Although the overall spending cap for accredited diabetes services has been confirmed at €12.85 million, the distribution among local authorities is causing a profound paralysis in healthcare provision.

The imbalance between local health authorities: 850 euros blocked

The key issue lies in the lack of a compensation mechanism between the various areas of the region. In the provinces of Avellino, Benevento, and Caserta, where fewer patients reside, the allocated resources remain partially unused. Conversely, in the Local Health Authorities (ASL) Napoli 1 Centro, Napoli 3 Sud, and Salerno, the available budgets are exhausted well before the end of the year.

In the 2025 financial statements, the Region denied the transfer of approximately €850 of unspent funds from inland regions to the metropolitan areas with the highest needs. This decision, formalized with the executive decree of September 30th and the Regional Council resolution of October 8th, effectively leaves valuable funds that could have guaranteed continuity of care frozen.

Patients raise concerns: "Low-income people are being penalized."

The Campania Diabetics Association's response was swift. President Flavio Petroccione sent a scathing letter to the Ministry of Health and regional leaders, denouncing what he believes to be an unjustified inequality.

Without the redistribution of resources, chronically ill patients in the provinces of Naples and Salerno will be forced, starting in November, to pay out of pocket for specialist checkups at accredited facilities or to postpone appointments and treatment plan renewals. This situation will particularly severely impact low-income groups, unable to afford private healthcare or wait the long waits on public waiting lists.

The political attack: "Lack of social sensitivity"

The patients' protest has become a political issue. The leader of the opposition in the Regional Council, Gennaro Sangiuliano, has launched a harsh attack on President Roberto Fico, accusing the government of "a lack of sensitivity to the real needs of citizens." According to the center-right, the redistribution proposals put forward in recent months to address the imbalance between the provinces have been completely ignored by the Regional Council, leaving the Campania healthcare system facing yet another emergency, to the detriment of the most vulnerable.