The high-calibre health care offered by Mater Olbia qualifies it to become a full member of the Sardinia region's health system and the hospital is "ready to do what's required," new board member Rocco Bellantone said on Monday.
"By nature I am very optimistic and I am also optimistic about the role that Mater Olbia can play on the island (of Sardinia)," Bellantone told La Nuova Sardegna newspaper in an interview.
"I have already been in phone contact with the Region's leaders and its local health authority (Ats), and we agreed to organise a series of technical meetings in the near future aimed at integrating our hospital fully in the Sardinian health network" he said.
"And we are ready to do what's required," Bellantone underlined.
He is dean of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart's Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and director of the Gemelli University Hospital's Endocrine and Metabolic Surgery Complex Operational Unit.
Mater Olbia's professionalism, state-of-the-art technology and the new services the hospital is planning can help prevent unnecessary and costly travel for patients living in the north of the island and reduce "passive mobility" - one of the Region's goals, Bellantone said.
A major contribution to this objective will be made by the opening of the hospital's 15 million euro radiation therapy centre which should accept its first patients at the beginning of next year, Bellantone noted.
"We are about to offer superb radiotherapy treatment with three cutting-edge tools: a brain radiotherapy robot that few centres in Europe have and which is not even available at the Gemelli; a device that integrates radiotherapy and magnetic resonance; and a machine driven by artificial intelligence."
The Mater Olbia can help cut very long waiting lists in Sardinia that force thousands of patients to seek treatment on the Italian mainland, Bellantone noted.
"With our contribution we can allow Sardinians to be treated in one of the best centres in Italy," he said.
In addition to a thyroid pathologies diagnosis and therapy service, a stroke unit, specialized neurosurgery centre and interventional radiology, obesity surgery and gynecological surgery centres are also planned, Bellantone said.
"These are all areas of medicine for which, today, many Sardinians travel within the region and also outside."
In further move that will help Sardinia's emergency rooms meet all patient needs, the Mater Olbia will "soon" launch an emergency service open from 8am to 8pm for neurological, abdominal and gynecological disorders, Bellantone concluded.
Bellantone's appointment to the hospital's board and his move to integrate the Mater Olbia in Sardinia's health service was welcomed by key players in the region.
"I wish Professor Bellantone well in his role on Mater Olbia's board. He is a distinguished medical professional with whom we hope to start fruitful talks in the interest of our island and its citizens," said Sardinia's regional health councillor Mario Nieddu.
"I know Rocco Bellantone professionally and he has long experience in research and healthcare organisation," said Carlo Doria, a doctor, university lecturer and newly elected Senator for northern Sardinia.
Bellantone's role as a member of Mater Olbia's new board will be to oversee the hospital's clinical management and relations with the region.
"He is surgeon whose specialism is endocrine disorder therefore with expertise in a field in which Mater Olbia is striving for excellence...like all great teachers, he is training medical students who will be deployed on our island," Doria said.
Maurizio De Pascale, president of Sardinia's chapter of Italy's main private employers association Confindustria, told Adnkronos he welcomed Mater Olbia's move to offer new services and enhance healthcare on the island.
"Mater Olbia is a valuable resource that has not yet expressed its full potential. We are sure the new board of directors can achieve this and sharply improve health services in Sardinia," De Pascale said.
Parish priest don Gianni Sini told Adnkronos he had received excellent care as a patient at Mater Olbia and said the whole of northern Sardinia stood to benefit from the hospital.
"Mater Olbia, which is not in competition with public hospitals, is important because it guarantees healthcare in the Gallura area that has often been lacking. In the summer months, the local population triples thanks to tourism," Sini noted.
Olbia's mayor Settimo Nizzi also voiced strong support for Mater Olbia and Bellantone.
"Rocco Bellantone is an important reference point for the Gemelli. For us the fact that he has obtained medical-scientific responsibility for the hospital further strengthens our belief that we must support the Mater Olbia," said Nizzi.
"It has always done things seriously in Gallura and in Sardinia," Nizzi underlined.
