In English: “Palermo, flames threaten Cervello Hospital: Pavilion B evacuated”

Last Updated: July 25, 2023

Palermo, le fiamme minacciano l'ospedale Cervello: evacuato il padiglione B

#Palermo
The firefighters are evacuating Pavilion B of the Cervello Hospital in Palermo, which is located under the Inserra district, the hill on the outskirts of the city that has been burning for hours. The air in the area is unbreathable. The firefighters are also involved in extinguishing the fires that threaten the hospital.

The high temperatures have caused disruptions to the activities at the Policlinico Hospital in Palermo. The 17-bed intensive care unit of the new emergency area, directed by Professor Antonello Giarratano and inaugurated on February 27th, has closed admissions due to malfunctioning air conditioning systems and transferred patients: three have been relocated to other hospitals (one to Civico and two to Termini Imerese) and the rest to other departments within the university hospital.

The operating rooms in the emergency area are also closed, as well as the orthopedics department, while the plastic surgery department only operates for brief and urgent procedures. The endoscopy department is also blocked. All emergency cases continue to be guaranteed.

“In light of climate change, which is making heatwaves longer, scorching, more frequent, and dangerous, we will need to revise the entire heating and cooling system to cope with these extremes,” says the commissioner of the Policlinico, Maurizio Montalbano. “The increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events has led us to prepare a corporate plan that will include actions to be taken and equipment to be used to protect clinical and healthcare activities in critical situations like the ones we are experiencing these days. Nevertheless, we apologize to our patients for the inconvenience.”

The head of the technical office, engineer Ferdinando Di Giorgi, explains, “The Policlinico has joined a Consip agreement for the management of all facilities, entrusted to the company Edison which, despite our requests, has not yet provided a report on the issues and what they are doing to resolve them. In any case, the technical office is trying to ensure electrical continuity, which is made difficult by repeated micro power outages from Enel. Unfortunately, the air conditioning systems suffer due to the lack of heat exchange caused by the high temperatures.”