14-Year Wait: Trapani's Quest for Radiotherapy Remains a Dream"

 For 14 years, behind Trapani's Sant'Antonio Abate Hospital, lies an extensive uncultivated area. Here, a pavilion dedicated to oncological radiotherapy was supposed to stand. A necessary conditional for a saga that has persisted for so long. A protracted wait that Trapani's citizens face consistently, amidst promises and program shifts.

Despite the years that have passed, radiotherapy is still not a reality. However, the committee refuses to give up and speaks of a wait that verges on a Guinness record. It also pledges to take the matter to decision-making chambers in Palermo and Rome.

Laura Montanti, president of the Citizens' Committee for Radiotherapy, explains: "Every year, there's a promise to allocate funds to kickstart the tendering process for the works. An executive project already exists, but the political class has not managed, in all these years, to unlock the funds necessary for a crucial facility for oncology patients."

Currently, the only radiotherapy center in the province is in Mazara del Vallo, where around 700 patients must go for oncological treatment. This center, situated at the Abele Ajello hospital, operates in agreement with the Santa Teresa clinic in Bagheria. It doesn't have its own staff, instead, personnel comes from the private clinic. This entails a higher cost for the ASP. However, Vincenzo Spera, commissioner of the ASP of Trapani, assures that internal doctors will soon be available, and the agreement will be revoked.

However, in Trapani and its surroundings, radiotherapy is still not available, and patients often have to reach the province of Palermo.

Laura Montanti asserts: "The distress for patients is enormous; the absence of radiotherapy restricts the right to treatment."

Commissioner Spera responds to the protests of the "Promoting Committee for Radiotherapy in Trapani" by emphasizing that the regional government's executive board should adopt the Plan for the completion of Covid emergency activities. This plan includes a funding allocation of 11 million euros for the construction of the radiotherapy unit at the Sant'Antonio Abate Hospital in Trapani. He further states that once the board approves the measure, we'll have certainty regarding the funding and, consequently, the ability to provide the concrete answers that citizens await. Out of the total 28 million euros allocated for the unit, 17 are already at the disposal of the ASP, and the remaining 11 are expected upon the next approval of the regional government for the Covid emergency activity completion plan. Commissioner Spera hopes for a swift resolution. The committee is counting the days. "We'll give it a month, then we'll make our voices heard in other venues. But the feeling is that no one wants the Radiotherapy unit to be realized."